#Ican'tbreathe
“I can’t breathe,” George Floyd gasped moments before his death. The police ignored his plea and the result created a tragic and all too familiar portrait of black American life. We have heard these exact words before. When arrested in 2014, Eric Gardner desperately pleaded, “I can’t breathe” shortly before his death. Little has changed for minorities since. In past few months alone, Ahmaud Arbery was shot while jogging, and Breonna Taylor, an EMT worker, was shot while sleeping in her bed when police raided the wrong house.
Though most police officers serve honorably, the bad behavior of a few destroys public trust. Each one of the policemen involved in Floyd’s death took this oath:
“As a Minnesota Law Enforcement Officer, my fundamental duty is to serve mankind; to safeguard lives and property; to protect the innocent against deception, the weak against oppression or intimidation, and the peaceful against violence or disorder; and to respect the Constitutional rights of all to liberty, equality and justice.” When they broke this vow, they lit a fuse that led to an explosive reaction.
The riots give privileged citizens an excuse to direct their judgment outward instead of inward. We decry Floyd’s death, then quickly turn our focus to burning buildings. “There’s no excuse for violence,” we say, quickly tucking racism out of sight. We are either too arrogant or too embarrassed to expose our complicity in oppression.
Invoking the name of a black friend is not a commitment to racial justice. Singing, “We Shall Overcome” in our churches during Black History Month does not liberate the oppressed. It doesn’t even acknowledge the judicial leniency extended to whites or the harsh, often cruel punishment inflicted on members of the black community.
This was most recently illustrated in the difference in how the police responded to the anti-lock down protest compared to the Floyd protests. When fully armed white people marched on state capitals to protest the COVID-19 quarantines, police did not wear riot gear. They didn’t hurl tear gas or pelt protesters with rubber bullets. In sharp contrast, shortly after peaceful protesters gathered in Minneapolis, police arrived in riot gear, ready and loaded to react. Perhaps the escalation to additional violence could have been averted if the police had granted the Floyd protesters the same respect given at the anti-lockdown rallies.
“When police shoot, the people loot” is an accurate caption for the photos in the link below. They reveal the stark contrast of the police response between the protests.
We cannot reverse the horrific actions that ended in the death of George Floyd. The protesters’ violent outrage will not quickly be channeled into a constructive force for social change. Built over generations, the infrastructure of racism will not easily collapse. We must work together to dismantle it day by day, piece by piece. White people can begin by listening to the cries that rise up from senseless death. We can make amends for the deep wounds that have festered in the cesspool of our denial. It’s past time to paint a new portrait of American life, one where every race is held as sacred and everyone has room to breathe.
Rep. Hank Johnson from Georgia recently repeated the following lament, “I Can’t Breathe” on the floor of congress. He delivered it on the same floor five years ago when Eric Garner was choked to death in police custody. It is as relevant today as it was then.
Black men and boys (women/girls) killed by police.
I can't breathe.
Impunity for the killers -- no justice, no peace.
I can't breathe.
Militarized police met peaceful protesters on their knees.
I can't breathe.
Weapons of war -- a show of force on our streets.
I can't breathe.
Disenfranchised youth driven to violence as speech.
I can't breathe.
Cynical media think this makes great TV.
I can't breathe.
A cowardly Congress afraid of losing its seats.
I can't breathe.
Half-hearted reform when there's more that we need.
I can't breathe.
Just thinking about the despair that this breeds.
I can't breathe.
Black lives matter. Hear my pleas.
I can't breathe. I can't breathe.
I yield.
