Many of us the past few days have been struggling emotionally, psychologically and spiritually by what we’ve seen yet again with our own eyes, and how reconcile it with our own decency and the world the want to live in. It’s extremely painful to see another human being snuffed out in a blatant act of racist aggression, it’s even more difficult when that’s a part of a pattern and perhaps reflective of our deeper nature.
George Floyd died in a brutal way. With his arms handcuffed behind his back, three white policemen kneeled on his back, one on his neck for more than 8 minutes, until he suffocated and died. He was limp and dead as we was turned over and carried into a vehicle. No spin can convince us otherwise.
There are truths in this tragedy that no one can dispute: 1) the act of violence was extremely excessive and outside of any protocol or rules of engagement; 2) no white person would have been handled this way for allegedly using a counterfeit $20 bill and protesting / resisting arrest for being accused of the crime of fraud.
Weeks earlier, we had white men storm the capital and a government building with automatic weapons to protest Covid closures and the police maintained their most controlled posture. There was no police aggression. Just imagine for a moment the consequences if 50 black men stormed a government building in the same way.
I don’t know how to meaningfully contribute to this conversation but I know I can’t remain silent. For as others like Dr. King have warned, we will “repent the silence of good people, as much as we will the sins of bad people.”
America is fundamentally racist and disproportionately, the darker ones skin color, the more racist America is. This is a hard truth that we must come to terms with. Not every American is racist. There are many people in our country who have evolved intellectually, emotionally and spiritually to see racism for the scourge that it is. But as a whole, in deeply institutionalized ways, we are racist…the darker ones skin color, the more one is subjected to our racism. We have no historical context, we don’t understand the complexities of inequality, slavery, institutional biases. We are dull and racist.
We have had a 400+ year conversation running on our original sin. There is nothing more that I can add to the conversation other than share a personal experience that may perhaps give some white people a small glimpse into the day to day experiences of people with a little melanin in their skin.
Many years ago my brother, my girlfriend, her girlfriend and I left a club in Meatpacking District in New York City to head home. It was late, perhaps 2am or 3am and many people were exiting the clubs and on their way home. On our walk to find a taxi, I observed a younger looking white male passed out on the steps of building. Everyone was walking by without even glancing over at this guy.
I worried and asked my brother to go have a look at him. My brother is a medical professional, and I urged him to see what was wrong with this young guy. My brother immediately went over to take his pulse. The girls and I stood a few meters away and observed as my brother did his medical assessment. I used my phone to take a pic as my brother placed his fingers on this young mans wrists and listened for a breath.
Within seconds, a police car with his sirens on made a bee line towards our direction. A police officer got out of the car immediately aggressively shouting at us. I become irritated. “We’re just checking his pulse, everyone else is walking by.” He proceeded to lambaste my brother and I, getting increasingly aggressive and hostile. I stood looking at him face to face inches away, “what are you going to do, there are countless witnesses here.” He backed off and his parting comments was to look at my girlfriend (white skinned), and ask “why are you associating with people like them.” The officer did not even take a step towards the passed out white kid to assess his health. He just drove off with some nasty racist parting comments.
Had we not been in a busy area with numerous witnesses and in the company of two white women, it’s unclear to me what would have transpired. It’s entirely possible that the police officer would have escalated the situation and my brother and I would have been arrested. Perhaps we would have been falsely accused of crimes.
I’ve been arrested once and have been to court 4 times and won every single time. Each time against the injustice of police officers. I don’t find it easy to be docile and back off when I know that I’m in the right. I’ve internalized Dr. King’s caution against the silence of good people.
These are not “thugs” that are protesting. These are people who have been pushed passed their limits. Their voices are not heard, they see no change and their frustration has boiled over.
We need to spend a lot of time reviewing all of this from a place of empathy and try to understand it more deeply.
