The following pledge was created by James Varner who felt inspired to write this after the killing of James Earl Bird.

“After the James Earl Bird murder I cried for four days and couldn’t sleep because what happened to James Earl Bird could happen to me and almost did on two occasions but worst of all this is that it could happen to one of my three sons and even my lovely daughter April Joy Varner.  On one of my sleepless nights at about 3 AM I went down to my dining room table and the Lord gave me the pledge to undo racism and discrimination in Maine and America.”

See his article here “Walking in My Shoes.”