I've grown tired of hearing people ask why people in Ferguson and Baltimore are burning down their "own communities". For one this implies some level of ownership over the housing developments and impoverished areas they've been relegated to, but I digress. In my view, a community is not created by largely discriminatory zoning laws and practices that push low income residents and people of color into impoverished areas and tell them to deal with it. A community is not the result of gentrification and taxation(or lack there of when it comes to the rich) and the impact that has on who is allowed to be "in" and who is driven "out". A community is not flimsy public housing, a strip mall, or the multitude of fast food joints that are all too available on "that side of town". These people are burning down mere edifices of their systemic oppression.
A community IS something far more intangible. It is the fact that black mothers everywhere weep for Freddie Gray, Rekiya Boyd, Mike Brown, Renisha McBride and countless others, just like they would weep for their own children. Community is the sense of loss that those of us who understand or are empathetic to what it means to be a person of color in this country feel. Community is the network of activists, both seasoned and newfound, who will never stop fighting. Community is tied to belonging. Belonging to something bigger than yourself, no matter how painful that association is. We are connected in our pain. We are connected in our hope. We are connected in our strength. We are connected in our fight. Try as they might, this sense of community will always exist. It is a "fire" that can never be extinguished.