By D.M.Livingston|TWT Editor’s Desk|Published Feb 28, 2026

Waterbury-As Black History Month comes to a close, I’ve been sitting with a question that doesn’t feel comfortable—but it feels honest:

Why did it take so long for this country to be outraged?

Were the lynchings not enough?
Were the church bombings not enough?
Were the assassinations of leaders like Dr. King and Malcolm X not enough?

Because for generations, the Black community has lived with a level of violence, exclusion, and injustice that rarely triggered national moral panic. What we got was protest. Sometimes a riot. Then a return to normal—for everyone else.

And now, in moments where the whole country seems to react—where institutions speak, corporations issue statements, politicians wear the right colors and say the right words—I can’t help but ask something deeper:

We Were Talking: The Eclipsed Struggle of Black Americans

Who is the outrage really for?

Is it for the Black families who have been living this reality for centuries?

Or is it for a nation that only confronts injustice when it disrupts its image of itself?

Because history shows us something uncomfortable:
America often doesn’t change because Black people are hurting.
It changes when that hurt becomes impossible for everyone else to ignore.

That doesn’t mean the outrage is fake.
But it does mean it can be late. It can be conditional. It can be centered in the wrong place.

But here’s what I know to be true—whether the country is outraged or not:

Black dignity never waited for permission.
Black resistance never needed validation.
Black progress has always been driven by Black people pushing, building, creating, and demanding more—often with little support, and sometimes with open opposition.

So as we close this month, maybe the better question isn’t just “Why now?”

Maybe the question is:

Going forward, who will the outrage be for—and what will we do with it when we feel it?

Because awareness without action is just performance.
And history has already seen enough of that.

This is The Waterbury Times.
And we’re still watching.

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