Courtesy of Bastrop Advertiser
June 2, 2020
By Bill McCann
I jogged on streets in many cities for decades and never got stopped by a cop or chased by an armed vigilante thinking I was a thief. I never had someone call the cops on me due to my skin color because I suggested she should leash her dog in a park. I’ve never been rousted from my bed at midnight by officers who crashed through my door, shot first, and asked questions later. I’ve never had a cop stop me for a broken taillight and haul me to jail.
I’ve never feared that walking peacefully in my own neighborhood could get me killed. I’ve never had white people assume I was a drug dealer or my mother was a welfare queen because of my skin color. I’ve never had an American president denigrate my community or my race.
Because I’m white, none of those things happened to me. But I live in a country where people of color too often do not enjoy the benefits and privileges that I have.
The protests that started in Minneapolis last week were sparked by the death of a black man by a cop who used his knee to help squeeze the life out of his victim in broad daylight. But the uprising, which soon spread to other cities and often turned violent, was not just about this incident. It was an accumulation of injustices against people of color. It was about anger because black people nationally continue to die at the hands of police, who usually walk free.
It was an accumulation of frustration by people out of money, out of work and going nowhere. It was an accumulation of ongoing government neglect in public education, safety, housing and health care. It was a response to President Donald Trump, who can’t be believed or trusted, who has spread hate with divisive rhetoric, and who has legitimized racism. It was a response to the total failure by the president to lead the country amid a pandemic that has taken a huge toll in black communities nationally.
The Minneapolis incident was particularly disgusting because cellphone videos taken by bystanders showed a handcuffed George Floyd lying facedown, saying he couldn’t breathe as the officer kept a knee to his neck. In the past, police might have been cleared by saying they thought the victim had a weapon, or was fighting, or some other excuse. But cellphone videos and security cameras have made those excuses more difficult.
Minneapolis officials fired four cops after seeing the videos. Irate residents wanted the cops arrested immediately. When that didn’t happen, protesters took to the streets, the pleas of a dying George Floyd ringing in their ears. Many protesters were peaceful, but others – blacks and whites – turned violent, setting fires and looting in cities nationwide.
I don’t condone violence and destruction, period. It won’t bring back anyone wrongly killed by police. But black communities have been begging for justice and equality and have been ignored for too long. What did we expect? Those voicing concerns about gutted buildings, conspiracies, and outside provocateurs, but not black lives, are part of the problem. Those who rail about football players taking a knee to peacefully protest police brutality but sit silent when a cop uses a knee to choke a black man are part of the problem. The recent protests have sent a message we can no longer ignore. If we ignore the message, we are part of the problem.
Four days after George Floyd died, police officer Derek Chauvin was arrested for Floyd’s murder. It was a small step toward justice. But we still have long way to go to prove that black lives really do matter.
