People walk past the Jacksonville, Florida, Dollar General store where three people were shot and killed the day before, on Aug. 27, 2023. (Sean Rayford/Getty Images, via JTA)
We are horrified by the murders in Jacksonville, Florida on Aug. 26. Our federal partners have since briefed us (along with many other communities), but it is clear that the murderer was fueled by pure hatred of Black people with animus because of the color of their skin. Indeed, it is not lost on anyone that he unleashed his killing spree at a Dollar General store located near historically Black Edward Waters University. His victims were Angela Michelle Carr, 52; Anolt Joseph Laguerre Jr., 19; and Jerrald De’Shaun Gallion, 29 — all of whom were Black. Their lives were cut short for nothing.
We also hold a place in our hearts for the people killed and wounded in our own community over that same weekend, including the two dead and four wounded at a shooting Saturday night, Aug. 26, in downtown Louisville. The violence reminds us that we must stand together against hate, whenever and wherever it occurs. As Martin Luther King Jr. said 60 years ago during the March on Washington: “We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back.”
— Matt Golden
Director, JCRC
