Black Lives Matter: An opinion from a ten-year-old.
One of my students asked me to post this on my Medium profile in its entirety (The Parents permitted to do so). This topic has never been discussed in class. Furthermore, this student is not even black or white. He’s not even American. Go figure.
I usually shy away from taking a political stance for fear of backlash from the other side, regardless of the issue. A ten-year-old sees it, yet many cannot. We are failing our youth. We are all responsible.
The piece, in its entirety, is below.
GEORGE FLOYD: “I CAN’T BREATHE!”
Those were the last words of George Floyd, the African-American man killed by officer Derek Chauvin for suspected use of a fake twenty-dollar bill. It was real money that he had given to the cashier at the shop. The question is, would a white person suffer the same fate as George did?
Even as a ten-year-old, I know when things get stupid or racist around me, and the death of George Floyd was more than that. It was an injustice. The weight of a man on someone’s neck for refusing to give back a pack of cigarettes he had legally obtained. And the man died. Even if the police thought it was a fake twenty-dollar bill, the actions of the policeman were too extreme and cost George his life.
