“We who in engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.
One way we peacefully protest comes in the form of vigils. According to The Guardian, this image captures, “Mourners [as they] pay their respects to rapper Nipsey Hussle, who was shot in broad daylight on the day he was scheduled to meet police to discuss ways of stopping gang violence.” Here we see the evidence of what Martin Luther King, Jr. stated above. We cannot continue in the stupor of ignorance or live in the dopamine-induced coma of our worship of the “technologies that undo [our] capacities to think” (thank you, Neil Postman). The hidden tensions are, sadly, alive and well. Look at the world around you. Light the candles. This is a wake… Come awake!
Vigil
by Vincent H. Anastasi 2019 Wake Drive off sleep That seductress For this good night We feel the hole The rest in pieces Fractured light About one life What remains? What outlasts These brief candles The wax that wanes? These fragile names Defining loss and pain Have won life More awake
the deepening ground 
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