A message on the death of George Floyd

As many of you know, Mr. Floyd was killed by a police officer as he knelt on his neck for minutes upon minutes. I will not dwell on the merits of Mr. Floyd’s behavior to get arrested or whether there was any resisting arrest. I will dwell on this. His death was uncalled for and shouldn’t have happened. Furthermore, you are more likely to die when arrested while “black”, you are more likely to die when jogging while “black”, and the list goes on.

When people don’t understand why this is creating such a big issue in our society, bringing on major protests across the country and beyond, let me try to give an analogy. If you’re a woman who suffers from domestic violence, often times the police and society dismiss your situation and when you’re beaten, we don’t really address it to your full satisfaction and benefit. As a matter of fact, if you suffer from domestic abuse, you’re very likely to suffer from lethal gun violence. Only then will society and law enforcement care more, and by then it is too late. Well, if you’re black, your issues are too often dismissed by society and when you’re treated as a lesser person, we don’t really address it to your full satisfaction and benefit. And when you are the victim of violence, then we might care. But it’s too late.

There’s a lot of anger and frustration that’s being vented, and while I do not condone violence, looting and riots, I cannot accept discussions where we speak about protesters and looters as one and the same. If there was a criminal in a family, would they want me to call them a family of criminals? I know I wouldn’t. So, let’s make sure that we separate the good from the bad, and remember that while the media loves to show looters, what’s most important here is to continue the conversation around love, embracing our differences, remembering that all men and women are created equal under God, and that nobody is born a racist…so let’s stop teaching it.