Photo by Xena Goldman
When an innocent person is murdered, we all die a little. Any decent human being must feel part of a universal guilt and shame, when watching the video of George Floyd’s murder, if we do not we are then part of the cause of it. His murder was an act of such deliberate, horrific violence which showed utter contempt and disregard for human life, for black human life, that it woke a rage in us which now must out. A completely powerless man who begged for his life: “I can’t breathe!” was murdered in cold blood by the people who have sworn “to protect and serve.”
Why? I cried when I saw the video of his murder. How many more years, how many more generations will it take before race does not matter? Why is this contempt for life that is of a different color still in our society? Does society feel that not enough people have died in the cause of equal justice for all? Why?
I remember the Rodney King riots in 1991 and the incredible feeling of impotence I felt then when the verdict of “not guilty” was announced early in the afternoon. I actually learned what this meant later in the evening, when my children and I were at the Griffith’s Observatory, and the performance was abruptly ended and everyone was asked to leave. We were cautioned to avoid central Los Angeles, and as we came out in the parking lot we saw the city burning before us. I remember the next day when my youngest son came home from High School and told me that the principal had addressed the students and told them that white and black students should keep apart so as to not cause any “troubles!” What has changed?
I feel the same outrage today, as I did then, because here am I in my comfortable, nice and secure home going about my daily life without worries or hassles, in an ordered world. In this same world these heinous acts are performed against people, who are citizens of the same country, who are men and women going about their business similarly, and have shown no threat or danger to others. The only difference is that they are of a different skin colour than I. How can the society we both inhabit hold this incongruous belief: my white life is of value but his black life is worthless?
To me there are many reasons for what has, and is, happening; belief systems are complex and are grown over many generations, and are very difficult to change. It behooves us, the people who have no fear of walking outside, who do not have to constantly look over their shoulder, who expect police officers to aid and assist us, who can simply live our lives, to speak out now! We are the silent majority and if we do not speak out, if we do not show by words or actions that our fellow citizens of colour must not be subjected to a different justice system than we are, then we are complicit in continuing the evil expressed in the murder of George Floyd.
“What is cowardice? I am going to define it very simply, in Kantian terms. It is the failure to live up to one’s duty — the one that one has to treat others as one would wish to be treated if roles were reversed. “– umair haque
This has nothing to do with politics – it is a matter of justice – a matter of righting something evil and wrong and not let the dead be forgotten. There are many ways of betrayal but keeping silent when a wrong is committed is the worst way of betraying ourselves and our fellow man.
Here are some of the facts known and some more links. Please read.