"What’s Different This Time?" (Part 2 of my series titled The Journey of a Politically Homeless Christian)
What’s different about the death of George Floyd? What’s different about protests this time? By now you’ve likely seen dozens of instances on social media where black Americans have been killed by police. During most high-profile deaths, the last few years, the stories were covered in the national and cable news and there were likely local protests against the police. White people were saddened by these deaths, but they didn’t for the most part join Black Lives Matter protests or make dozens of social media posts over weeks.
This time with the death of George Floyd it was different. There are a few factors that have caused this. First, much of America, in particular, big cities have been the hardest hit by Coronavirus and had been in lockdowns/stay at home orders and going out as little as possible. People are frustrated and a host of other emotions. Thirty million people lost their job due to Coronavirus in an early June Wall Street Journal article. I’m sure many were fearful they could still lose their job. I was afraid I might lose my job a few months ago with the College I teach at facing significant budget cuts. People are afraid they will get sick or their family and friends will get sick. Even if you don’t die you could be facing decreased organ function for years. Schools were just going out for summer breaks, but before many summer recreation activities that many were cancelled anyway.
All this to say people had a lot of time on their hands to watch videos on social media, read and post stories.
Second, the story of Ahmaud Arbery in early May was beginning to spread on social media. A black man killed not by police, but by local neighbors. I don’t have any Facebook friends that are cops that I know of. A small percentage of America is cops, but I have a few Facebook friends that I could see being like the individuals that killed Arbery. Looking into the background of the story it didn’t take long to realize the preparators were racist. Even if you don’t have friends with people like that perhaps you did at some point, grew up with them or your friends’ parents might have been like that. The story is even worse that Arbery was killed back in late February, but the suspects were free for months despite no question about who did it. At best the suspects not arrested/charged were due to prosecutor’s recusing themselves due to conflict of interest and Coronavirus slowing the process. At worst a former cop, and investigator in the district attorney’s office, and his son, were getting a pass, because they were part of the gang and you don’t go after your own. It’s not a surprise that the suspects were not arrested till the video came to light. More on videos later.
The Arbery case may have seen distant for many. Yes, it was horrible, but those were “racist rednecks in Georgia,” but that wouldn’t happen where I live in the city. The next domino that makes this spring/summer different, the video of Amy Cooper calling the cops on Christian Cooper in Central Park. Thankfully no harm came to Christian, but it could have easily if the cops had arrived before Christian had left the area. Here we have a white woman threatening a black man with a metaphorical gun and going through with it. Not so different than countless women you may have read about in history where a white woman felt threatened by a black man, then a posse is formed, and black man ends up dead to “save her honor.” Emmett Till is a notable example. Amy Cooper was a middle-class woman in New York City, many white people across America could see her as their sister, mother, daughter, their best friend. The words she said were disturbing, but if you watch the video and the inflection in her voice is chilling. She was using racism as a weapon while being unarmed. How she believed cops will treat a white woman “threatened” by a black man shows how far America still needs to go to end systemic racism. Even though she had to know she was wrong, (if she was truly fearful wouldn’t she get away), the arriving cops would assume the worst and by the time things were sorted out, Christian Cooper would likely have still lost more than her. Amy Cooper wasn’t a cop, or a former cop, she didn’t even have a gun. She could be seen as the classic girl next door and she showed racism is still alive anywhere in the US.
“His mouth is full of lies and threats; trouble and evil are under his tongue.” Psalm 10:7
Now I return to where I began. Later that very same but halfway across the country George Floyd unarmed was killed while under suspicion of using a fraudulent $20 bill. Days later I thought of Back to the Future 3, where Doc Brown was shot in the back over a matter of 80 dollars. This was not a lone cop feeling threatened and shooting an unarmed man (Michael Brown) or stand your ground defense used against Trayvon Martin. George Floyd was handcuffed and being held down by three cops, one with a knee on the back of his neck being very calm and casual, and a fourth looking on doing crowd control. “You shall not murder.” Exodus 20:13
What do these three stories have in common? Video evidence posted on social media. These and many more incidents are coming to light and people are demanding justice. Between officers having body cameras and 99% of bystanders have cell phone video to instantly post on social media: incidents with police brutality and vigilantes taking the law into their own hands cannot be swept under the rug so easily. America, the world, is demanding better.
I would be negligent to also not mention Breonna Taylor. Her story began to resonate around the country also in late May. George Floyd may have committed a crime, not that it should have resulted in his death. I mention this because it is a sentiment by some that all you have to do is not break the law then you don’t have anything to worry about from the police. The incident of Taylor being shot 8 times after waking in the middle of the night disproved that for anyone not sure. Police executed a lawful no-knock raid after catching the intended target. Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, legally fired at who he thought were intruders since the evidence suggests police did not announce themselves for fear that the people inside the residence would destroy evidence and evade them. Fortunately, Walker was not injured, and the truth seems to have come out. Had they both died, their families likely would not be able to seek justice as it seems initially the police report had significant errors and was largely blank. No-knock raids would still be going on in Louisville and no bill would have been introduced banning it by federal officials.
What started as Black Lives Matter protests, turned into protests against police brutality and calls to defund the police. Without these other incidents most likely George Floyd alone would not have woken white people to join protests and see police brutality firsthand.
Silence by businesses was not good enough or they risk being cancelled (more on cancel culture in a future article). Companies supported black lives matter through social media posts and donations or at least made statements and pledges condemning racism. Tv episodes and movies have been removed due to black facing and other racist elements. Black models and products flooded social media. Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben were being retired.
Most of these acts by businesses are a good thing, but it’s just a start. This is the easy stuff. Allowing BIPOC in positions of power, treating BIPOC employees equally, and rooting out systemic racism in companies is the hard stuff. Time will tell which companies truly care about BIPOC or if they are following the winds of public pressure till it goes away and returns to business as usual with the second and further waves of Coronavirus, general election, and whatever the next event the media focuses on.
"In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty.” Proverbs 14:23
“If I have denied justice to any of my servants, whether male or female, when they had a grievance against me, what will I do when God confronts me? What will I answer when called to account?” Job 31:13-14
Will politicians follow through with defunding the police and supporting communities rather than criminalizing them. It’s going to be a messy process with setbacks and mistakes, look at CHOP. Things currently have been shown to not be perfect so we shouldn’t expect perfection either with changes or trying new things, but we need to be headed in the right direction as a society. Will white people continue to be productive allies or get “tired” of the cause and become performative allies? Terms borrowed from @wastefreemarie
What’s different this time? Hopefully it is.
Some of the thoughts in this article were inspired by a video by Trevor Noah. I don’t think I posted it before, but even if I did here it is again https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=271546193965209
What’s different about the death of George Floyd? What’s different about protests this time? By now you’ve likely seen dozens of instances on social media where black Americans have been killed by police. During most high-profile deaths, the last few years, the stories were covered in the national and cable news and there were likely local protests against the police. White people were saddened by these deaths, but they didn’t for the most part join Black Lives Matter protests or make dozens of social media posts over weeks.
This time with the death of George Floyd it was different. There are a few factors that have caused this. First, much of America, in particular, big cities have been the hardest hit by Coronavirus and had been in lockdowns/stay at home orders and going out as little as possible. People are frustrated and a host of other emotions. Thirty million people lost their job due to Coronavirus in an early June Wall Street Journal article. I’m sure many were fearful they could still lose their job. I was afraid I might lose my job a few months ago with the College I teach at facing significant budget cuts. People are afraid they will get sick or their family and friends will get sick. Even if you don’t die you could be facing decreased organ function for years. Schools were just going out for summer breaks, but before many summer recreation activities that many were cancelled anyway.
All this to say people had a lot of time on their hands to watch videos on social media, read and post stories.
Second, the story of Ahmaud Arbery in early May was beginning to spread on social media. A black man killed not by police, but by local neighbors. I don’t have any Facebook friends that are cops that I know of. A small percentage of America is cops, but I have a few Facebook friends that I could see being like the individuals that killed Arbery. Looking into the background of the story it didn’t take long to realize the preparators were racist. Even if you don’t have friends with people like that perhaps you did at some point, grew up with them or your friends’ parents might have been like that. The story is even worse that Arbery was killed back in late February, but the suspects were free for months despite no question about who did it. At best the suspects not arrested/charged were due to prosecutor’s recusing themselves due to conflict of interest and Coronavirus slowing the process. At worst a former cop, and investigator in the district attorney’s office, and his son, were getting a pass, because they were part of the gang and you don’t go after your own. It’s not a surprise that the suspects were not arrested till the video came to light. More on videos later.
The Arbery case may have seen distant for many. Yes, it was horrible, but those were “racist rednecks in Georgia,” but that wouldn’t happen where I live in the city. The next domino that makes this spring/summer different, the video of Amy Cooper calling the cops on Christian Cooper in Central Park. Thankfully no harm came to Christian, but it could have easily if the cops had arrived before Christian had left the area. Here we have a white woman threatening a black man with a metaphorical gun and going through with it. Not so different than countless women you may have read about in history where a white woman felt threatened by a black man, then a posse is formed, and black man ends up dead to “save her honor.” Emmett Till is a notable example. Amy Cooper was a middle-class woman in New York City, many white people across America could see her as their sister, mother, daughter, their best friend. The words she said were disturbing, but if you watch the video and the inflection in her voice is chilling. She was using racism as a weapon while being unarmed. How she believed cops will treat a white woman “threatened” by a black man shows how far America still needs to go to end systemic racism. Even though she had to know she was wrong, (if she was truly fearful wouldn’t she get away), the arriving cops would assume the worst and by the time things were sorted out, Christian Cooper would likely have still lost more than her. Amy Cooper wasn’t a cop, or a former cop, she didn’t even have a gun. She could be seen as the classic girl next door and she showed racism is still alive anywhere in the US.
“His mouth is full of lies and threats; trouble and evil are under his tongue.” Psalm 10:7
Now I return to where I began. Later that very same but halfway across the country George Floyd unarmed was killed while under suspicion of using a fraudulent $20 bill. Days later I thought of Back to the Future 3, where Doc Brown was shot in the back over a matter of 80 dollars. This was not a lone cop feeling threatened and shooting an unarmed man (Michael Brown) or stand your ground defense used against Trayvon Martin. George Floyd was handcuffed and being held down by three cops, one with a knee on the back of his neck being very calm and casual, and a fourth looking on doing crowd control. “You shall not murder.” Exodus 20:13
What do these three stories have in common? Video evidence posted on social media. These and many more incidents are coming to light and people are demanding justice. Between officers having body cameras and 99% of bystanders have cell phone video to instantly post on social media: incidents with police brutality and vigilantes taking the law into their own hands cannot be swept under the rug so easily. America, the world, is demanding better.
I would be negligent to also not mention Breonna Taylor. Her story began to resonate around the country also in late May. George Floyd may have committed a crime, not that it should have resulted in his death. I mention this because it is a sentiment by some that all you have to do is not break the law then you don’t have anything to worry about from the police. The incident of Taylor being shot 8 times after waking in the middle of the night disproved that for anyone not sure. Police executed a lawful no-knock raid after catching the intended target. Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, legally fired at who he thought were intruders since the evidence suggests police did not announce themselves for fear that the people inside the residence would destroy evidence and evade them. Fortunately, Walker was not injured, and the truth seems to have come out. Had they both died, their families likely would not be able to seek justice as it seems initially the police report had significant errors and was largely blank. No-knock raids would still be going on in Louisville and no bill would have been introduced banning it by federal officials.
What started as Black Lives Matter protests, turned into protests against police brutality and calls to defund the police. Without these other incidents most likely George Floyd alone would not have woken white people to join protests and see police brutality firsthand.
Silence by businesses was not good enough or they risk being cancelled (more on cancel culture in a future article). Companies supported black lives matter through social media posts and donations or at least made statements and pledges condemning racism. Tv episodes and movies have been removed due to black facing and other racist elements. Black models and products flooded social media. Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben were being retired.
Most of these acts by businesses are a good thing, but it’s just a start. This is the easy stuff. Allowing BIPOC in positions of power, treating BIPOC employees equally, and rooting out systemic racism in companies is the hard stuff. Time will tell which companies truly care about BIPOC or if they are following the winds of public pressure till it goes away and returns to business as usual with the second and further waves of Coronavirus, general election, and whatever the next event the media focuses on.
"In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty.” Proverbs 14:23
“If I have denied justice to any of my servants, whether male or female, when they had a grievance against me, what will I do when God confronts me? What will I answer when called to account?” Job 31:13-14
Will politicians follow through with defunding the police and supporting communities rather than criminalizing them. It’s going to be a messy process with setbacks and mistakes, look at CHOP. Things currently have been shown to not be perfect so we shouldn’t expect perfection either with changes or trying new things, but we need to be headed in the right direction as a society. Will white people continue to be productive allies or get “tired” of the cause and become performative allies? Terms borrowed from @wastefreemarie
What’s different this time? Hopefully it is.
Some of the thoughts in this article were inspired by a video by Trevor Noah. I don’t think I posted it before, but even if I did here it is again https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=271546193965209