We can wave the flag, pound our chests and exclaim, “I’m an American!” but deep down most white Americans feel ashamed for what happened to George Floyd in Minneapolis last week. Whatever your race and color, if you saw what the police did to this unarmed black man it should make your skin crawl.
George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin with three other officers helping him do the rotten deed. This lunatic with a 19-year track record of violence towards the people he arrested, kept his knee on Floyd’s neck for almost 9 minutes, including two minutes and 43 seconds after Floyd became non-responsive. Chauvin did this posing for bystanders recording him on their cellphones with his hands in his pockets as if to say just another day on the beat, Tweedle-dee-dee.
I’m using my voice here to show my support for Black Lives Matter. Why? Because I’m ashamed. I’m ashamed of my white privilege and that I was unaware I even had white privilege. I’m ashamed I didn’t realize my black and Latino friends experienced life from a different perspective than mine. I’m ashamed that I was unaware of my ignorance, and the forgiveness they showed me when they tolerated my ignorance. I’m ashamed of my country – and our so-called “leadership” because it continues to treat black Americans as if they have no right to call America their home.
The narcissism Chauvin displayed would seem confounding if we didn’t already have a POTUS who, at his political rallies, incites police officers to rough up the people they arrest. I don’t think you’re tough enough on them, he tells cops at one rally. “I’d like to punch him in the face,” he said about a protestor getting escorted out of the arena. That’s pretty tough talk coming from a Big Mac-slobbering coward who applies orange bronzer like a toddler playing with his mommy’s make-up.
Our McPresident acts like the biggest bully in the schoolyard. He’s so manly and tough, that when people protested peacefully outside the White House, he ran to his bunker and hid under his cot. While in hiding, did he whine about being president to his buddies on Fox & Friends? Did he microwave some leftover McNuggets? Was Melania kneeling at his feet with a McFlurry, and a check made out to Tiffany’s that needed signing?
Almost four years with this guy; did we really think our cheating golfer-in-chief could console America in a crisis? Did we expect he would turn into a suave James Bond in a black tuxedo, landing his helicopter on the White House lawn and saying, “Have no fear America, old Donnie will save the day. By the way, my McFrosty should be just like me: shaken, not stirred, and heavy on the nuts.”
So here we are. Fighting a pandemic (remember Covid-19), and living through the murder of another unarmed black man by a sadistic police officer, enabled by three other officers who kept their mouths shut. After all the protests, all four men have been charged. What happens now? Hopefully, justice for George Floyd, and a change of course for America. Because black lives do matter. George Floyd's life matters. It matters to his kids. It matters to his family. It matters to Americans of every color who witnessed his murder over a suspected counterfeit $20. The man died over twenty bucks. Is that the price of life these days? Have we lost our souls?
Because I’m white, I have white privilege. Seeing a police car in the rearview mirror following my boyfriend and me in our car might make me nervous, but it doesn’t make me fear for my life. Getting pulled over for a traffic violation may make me a little frightened, but it doesn’t set off alarms that I might get arrested, beat up (or worse) because of my skin color. I don’t have those worries, but I have a voice, and so do you.
I’m a child of the 60s. I’ve lived through the riots, the 1967 police beating of Newark cabbie John Smith, the 1991 assault of Rodney King by Los Angeles police officers, and the tragic death of Amadou Diallo who was shot 41 times by four New York police officers in 1999. I’ve lived through news story after news story of people of color getting harassed and murdered by the police, and I’m sick of it.
This is not the America my hard-working single mother raised me to trust and respect. This is not the America I pictured in my mind as a second grader saying the Pledge of Allegiance. This is not the America that was promised to Americans when our founding fathers wrote, “All men are created equal” in The Declaration of Independence.
Of course, not all cops are bad cops. Some officers support and befriend the people in the neighborhoods they took an oath to protect and serve. Once, trapped in a snowstorm without a bus in sight, I flagged down a police car and the officer insisted on driving me to my door. Nice guy! Just yesterday, at a Black Lives Matter demonstration in Jersey City, police officers showed their support by taking a knee to the cheers of the assembled crowd. I personally know several police officers who treat the people in their communities with respect, not barbaric machismo.
It only takes one person to make a change. On November 3rd, when it comes time to vote for the next president of the United States, don’t think your one vote won’t make a difference. Instead, think of George Floyd. He was one person who changed the course of history.
Now, it’s up to us to continue on this course. Let’s learn from our mistakes, and make changes, so we can move forward in a better world. Then, maybe, one day we can truthfully say we are “one nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all”.
See you next week!
Photo by: Fermin Mendoza
Black Lives Do Matter
Nicely expressed, Sal! Glad someone wrote it.
Already shared on Facebook and linked in