"I Can't Breathe!" -Eric Garner, July 17, 2014
"I Can't Breathe!" -George Floyd, May 27, 2020
Yes. We’ve been here before. We’ve experienced the shock and horror of this before. The excessive force. The criminal behavior of the civil servants assigned to protect us. And against people of color almost always. We’ve seen unarmed Black men unjustifiably murdered in the street before. Too many times in fact. We just saw it two months ago. #RIPAHMAUDARBERY We’ve been ouraged. We’ve been heartbroken. We’ve been in the streets. All too familiar. However, something makes the death of George Floyd very different.
I wanted my first blog post to be something positive but my soul isn’t right. I had to speak on this.
When I woke up Wednesday Morning (May 27th) I was planning on creating a piece honoring Jadakiss, Left Eye and Andre 3000 who all share the same birthday. But instead I woke up to retired NBA veteran and Houston native Stephen Jackson crying on his Instagram page as he talked about his “twin”, George Floyd who was killed by police in the streets of Minnesota. “Cant let this ride dog, yall not gon get mad til it hit yall front door” he lamented while sobbing.
George Floyd with NBA vet and “twin” Stephen Jackson.
Subsequently, I scrolled down my timeline to see post after post of people expressing outrage over the Murder of George Floyd. And then I saw the picture of now fired Officer Derek Chauvin with his knee buried in Floyd’s neck. Disgusting. And then I saw the video. Horrible. I couldn’t get the sound of his voice out of my head. Pleading with the POS cop because he couldn’t breathe, then calling for his mother. I was sick. I was angry. I’m still angry. I couldn’t get that image out of my mind. George Floyd’s head pinned against the ground. And Chauvin, who looked like a hunter who was kneeling on a deer he just killed in the wild. And smirking…
“My people, my people, what can I say; say what I can. I saw it but didn't believe it; I didn't believe what I saw. Are we gonna live together? Together are we gonna live?” -Senior Love Daddy
(Samuel L Jackson, Do The Right Thing 1989)
All I could think was “How many times!? HOW MANY TIMES!??” “And why is it never anyone White?” I don’t wish anything negative on anyone, but why? Why is it always people of color. Why is it always my people!?? Despite being harassed and targeted by law enforcement a few times myself, I’d be remiss if I didn’t speak on the fact that my fair complexion has often yielded me a “pass” when it comes to dealing with the police. But they didn’t show the same courtesy to my younger brother (who is a shade darker with tattoos and dreads) when then arrested him for possession but let his white female passenger go. They didn’t show mercy to my other brother when they pulled him over at gunpoint, handcuffed him to a bumper, told him they would kill him if he moved and then proceeded to ransack his car for NOTHING.
So again I ask why!????
But of course that’s a rhetorical question because the answer has always been the same: Racism is alive and well and its a disease that we need to treat much like we’re treating Covid-19, like a pandemic. Because its alive and its DEADLY, and it’s spreading. If you think its not, and that people of color, particularly Black men, aren’t being targeted daily and the victims of profiling then you’re apart of the problem. It was alive when Eric Garner died in eerily similar circumstances in 2014. It was alive when Ahmaud Arbery was killed in February. Sandra Bland. Philando Castille. Tamir Rice. Atatiana Jefferson. Alton Sterling. Botham Shem Jean. Mike Brown. Stephon Clark. Freddie Gray. Oscar Grant. Travon Martin. Rodney King. Amadou Diallo. Emmett Till…
Its alive in the judicial system, in the workplace, in law enforcement and in the MAGA White House. Not even a post-Obama America can save us from the scourge of systemic racism or a bigoted so called President. But it only affects a certain demographic, which is why it has not been confronted head on. And its why people feel like the only course of action is to fight back. I don’t want to say too much but it’s obvious why we see looting and rioting and outrage. These institutions don’t value people of color. The endless videos of Black men killed at the hands of those sworn to protect us are only sewing the seeds of resentment and rage. If it continues then Pac’s prophetic words will come to pass…
Malcolm X once said, “We have to go to the root, we have to go to the cause. Dealing with the condition itself is not enough and it is because of our effort toward getting straight to the root that people often times think we are dealing in hate.” This is as true today as it was when originally said in 1959. This problem isn’t gonna go away unless we unite and mobilize to demand change which is to eradicate the root of the cause: White Supremacy. The belief and ideology that whites are superior to all other races, especially the black race, and should dominate society is corrosive. Malcolm X also famously said “A racial explosion is more powerful than an atomic explosion” and thats what we’re on the brink of.
We want justice, we want law enforcement reform, we want change. NOW. The officers were fired, but that’s not enough. They need to be arrested and charged with First Degree Murder. We need a message sent to every law enforcement agency in the US that this will no longer be tolerated. My heart goes out to the family and friends of those affected. We will never forget.
To whomever this reaches, please chime in with your thoughts. How do we move forward? How do we see the change we so deserve?
UPDATE: Minneapolis is burning. The Minneapolis 3rd Precent has been taken over by civilians and is burning.
Derek Chauvin has been charged with 3rd Degree Murder.
Continue to put Pressure on DA Mike Freeman to arrest ALL the officers involved. Text FLOYD to 55156 then call 612-348-5550 or 612-324-4499
Sign the petition at: www.justiceforbigfloyd.com
Stay safe. Stay Woke. Vote.
#RIPGEORGEFLOYD
#RIPBREONNATAYLOR
#RIPAHMAUDARBERY
Donate:
The Official George Floyd Memorial GoFundMe page.