Who Will We Be, America?

Loss of Morality Means George Floyd Died in Vain

Thinking about the masses today. My friends can’t come to my socially-distant backyard birthday party at my parents’ house on Long Island because of the NYC curfews. This is a negligible iota of importance, but it’s one person’s experience affected by the lawlessness.

George Floyd deserves justice, and his death should not be in vain. That police officer should rot in jail for the rest of his sad days. Police academies need education and severe penal reform that will forcefully remind them that their actions have consequences.

But Chanel is not responsible for police brutality. Fendi did not kill George Floyd. Justifying looting with the logic that one store’s inventory is a drop in the bucket of the company means you very wholly do not understand how morality works: whether it’s one dollar or a billion, thou shalt not steal. It is precisely because black lives matter that his death cannot and should not be the predicator of such lawlessness. No lives, black or white, can be lived harmoniously in anarchy. Opportunity to better your children’s lives will never be seized if they themselves don’t learn morality because you flouted it altogether.

What character of masses will America shape into?

Those inspired by peace, righteousness, and justice, the ones who always make it into the history textbooks as heroes and role models? Or will we descend into violence, anger, and hate? And if we have already, can we come out of it?