Amanpour on the Killing of Journalists in Maguindanao

 

 

Black is the color of death…the color of grief and bereavement.
 
Now, black is also the recognized color of protest against election violence and senseless political killing.
 
Black is now also the color of the disbelief and shock that renders one immobile as the body count increase.
 
Black is now also the color of incomprehensible indignation at the thought of fellow journalists forced to make a supreme sacrifice in the line of duty.
 
Black is now also the color of outrage at the blatant display of savagery that knows no mercy; that does not yield to the innocent; that does not relent in the face of women carrying their unborn children.
 
Black is now also the color of a seething anger at the thought of the slain – all someone’s son/daughter, brother/sister, husband/wife, mother/father — haphazardly buried, their faces and bodies mutilated beyond recognition.
 
Black is now also the color of sympathy that will never be enough to console the loved ones of those who perished.
 
Black is now also the color of solidarity with my Muslim brothers and sisters, my fellow Filipinos who continue to live everyday in uncertainty and turmoil as armed conflict and internal violence continue to ravage their homeland.
 
Black is now also the color of disgust for a government that gives impunity to a chosen few and feigns ignorance of private armies, when it is precisely their policies that have allowed their proliferation.
 
Black is the color of death…the color of grief and bereavement that flows deep in the veins in the blood of a people demanding justice.

Originally published in The Manila Times, November 28, 2009.