What Do You Have To Lose?

We all saw the same video together. With the audio on we heard the screams from bystanders. "Get off his neck! You're killing him!" Other bystanders pleaded with the policeman facing them, "What's the matter with you Bro? I guess this makes you feel like a real man huh?" The Policeman keeping the bystanders back just stared expressionless as though what was happening didn't matter. With the camera moving back and forth you could make out what was going on. A black man was down on the pavement with another officer's knee pressed on his throat. The officer with one hand in his pocket and the other hand leaning on his cruiser for balance, seemed to be purposely laying all of his body weight on the cuffed arrestees neck. The black man panted and gasped "I can't breathe! -- please stop!" His pleading wasn't heeded. I thought I must be losing my mind. What does anyone do to deserve this humiliation? What was going on through the mind of Derek Chauvin as he heard the gasps for air mixed with the pleading or the other 2 officers who pinned his feet and midsection to the ground. After 8 minutes and 46 seconds George Floyd died, and his body was drug off by paramedics.

The shock of this event was mind-numbing. There were those who saw it in real time. They screamed at the police to stop and get off of his neck. Philonise Floyd, (George's brother) said in an interview:

" I watched the video. It was hard but I had to watch the video. And as I watched the video, those four officers -- they executed my brother. The paramedics, they drug him across the ground without administering CPR -- they showed no empathy, no compassion, -- nobody out there showed it." -YouTube CNN May 28, 2020

The thing that may have really touched off the events to come, after seeing this snuff film over and over again was the deafening silence coming from the Minnesota police department for almost a whole week. Then on Thursday May 28th US Attorney Erica MacDonald (a Trump appointee) stepped up to the podium and invoked both the President's and Bill Barr's name into this matter. She assured the reporters that he and Mr. Barr were closely monitoring the situation. Mrs MacDonald and her crew parsed out words that sounded lawyer-like and very pedestrian. They attempted to sound empathetic, but implied there was more there than what our eyes saw. FBI agent Rainer Drolshagen asked for anyone who was there before, during, or after the incident to come forward and tell what they witnessed. Finally Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman stepped up and said:

"I will say that this video is graphic and horrific and terrible and no person should do that. But my job in the end is to prove that he violated a criminal statute and there is other evidence that does not support a criminal charge -- we need to wade through all of that evidence to come through with the media to a meaningful determination and we are doing that to the best of our ability."

 It seemed as though we were being told: "we see what you saw, and we feel what you felt, But with our special powers as attorneys, we see and feel there is more evidence beyond the video." In my opinion if you felt insulted with the legalize jargon, you're not alone. The MacDonald team spoke like real law and order crusaders trying to handle everyone from the Floyd Family to anyone with a drop of empathy within them. All of a sudden peaceful mourners became outraged protesters who were tired of the system telling them that videos like these didn't really matter. This public lynching of a black man doesn't matter. But to many people (amid a virus pandemic,) voices came together, and shouted in unison that George Floyd's death did mattered, along with the backwash of other deaths like  Breonna Taylor, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Eric Gardner, Sandra Bland, Philando Castile, Ahmaud Arbery and others. Maybe it felt as though the initial lone arrest and third-degree murder charges of Chauvin was suppose to appease everybody. By the time officers Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng, and Thomas Kiernan Lane were in custody and the charges upgraded, the protests had swelled and the dam burst.

The killing of George Floyd was like a curtain being ripped apart and showing us what we already knew was there. The spirit of what we thought had been driven out of existence with men like Bull Conner, George Wallace, Orval Faubus, the Governor of Arkansas was still there. And perhaps it felt safe in a Trump dominated society to strike out with their consumed hate for black men and women.

The President mouthed sympathy for the killing, but did not speak the words to the family or to the world that George Floyd's life mattered. "He didn't give me an opportunity to even speak," Philonise Floyd told MSNBC’s Al Sharpton of his call with the president. "It was hard. I was trying to talk to him, but he just kept, like, pushing me off, like 'I don't want to hear what you're talking about.' ” The Hill, May 31, 2020

Obviously, I can't unravel all that has been happening in major cities, states, and even globally, except to say people of many diverse backgrounds and ages have come out and marched, taken a knee, raised the fists, and shouted that black lives matter. Why have they felt the need to give another social justice war cry against injustice and a broken system? Part of it could be that with each police killing some of us are dying inside. And also because this President had promised to make America great again. He uttered during his campaign all white rallies to black Americans, "What do you have to lose by trying something new like Trump?"   Apparently the answer is clear by now. And again in response to this outrage, he fails to bring us together as a united country. But as this reaction to George Floyd having his life snuffed out continued to play out daily, Trump seemed to unravel. His thinly veiled feelings about those who didn't appeal to his all things rich, white, and oligarchy began to show.  He told Governors that if they couldn't control the protesting, he would do it for them. To him protesters are all looters and terrorists. Soon the White House was dark at night giving it an eerie look, as if to say, go away. Nobody's home. And of course after it was reported that he took to a bunker for safety from the protesters who were on the White House lawn, he had them (as well as the media) cleared away with tear gas and rubber bullets while droning on in the Rose Garden about being a President of law and order.

Never once was it ever reported that this President tried to meet with the family of George Floyd at the White House or try to speak words of encouragement. On June 5, he showed everyone that what Michelle Obama said was true. "Being the President doesn't change who you are -- it reveals who you are." For him nothing else mattered except a good jobs report for May. In a bizzare mash-up He tried to put a period on everything bad that was happening including the unresolved Covid epidemic, as well as the killing of George Floyd. In the Rose Garden Trump boasted:

"We have the greatest economy in the history of our country, we have the greatest economy in the history of our world. And that strength helped us get through this horrible pandemic. -- Equal justice under the law, must mean that every American receives equal treatment in every encounter with law enforcement regardless of race, color, gender, or creed. They have to receive fair treatment from law enforcement. They have to receive it. You all saw what happened last week. We can't let that happened." And throwing black voters a bone, he rambled on. "Hopefully George is looking down and saying this is a great thing that is happening with our country. It's a great day for him, its a great day for everybody. -- It's a great great day in terms of equality." -CNN June 5, 2020

There was a giddiness in his voice as he seemed to spike the ball. One questionable jobs report made his world appear sunnier. There was a tone of superiority in his speech as though to say, let me tell you all about what true social justice is all about. It's not about lives, its about jobs. When reporters pressed him to answer questions he put a finger to his lips and remarked "I have to sign this document and I need quiet." After that he stood up and made his exit with reporters questions still ringing in his ears. Pathetically, this President believes his hate tweeting and tough talk about left wing terrorists and Antifa, plus a Bible wielding church photo op has set things back on its right course. Ironically, the May jobs report was not good news for Black, Brown, or Asian Americans. The numbers for new jobs went up for white Americans while non whites had been added to the roster of the unemployed. Like the Covid 19 pandemic, Trump has pushed the real voices aside and inserted his own voice into something that he is really unqualified to speak on. He's about as much a voice for civil rights, as he's a scientific authority on how to beat this Coronavirus.
But maybe as he drives down the plaza leading to the White House, he can see that other voices are getting the last word.