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The Tragic Killing of George Floyd
“On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was killed by an Officer in the Minneapolis Police Department. The officer used his knee to pin Floyd’s neck to the ground for over eight minutes. As you read, you might think oh, another black man just killed, but no, it’s not. Over the past hundreds of years, black people have been getting killed by the very people we think are here to protect us. Between 1991 and June 2020, at least 437 innocent people died while in police custody, many from violence or neglect.
The Rise of “Black Lives Matter” Movement
It’s police officers killing us, not a gang on the street, not a robber, not a terrorist but police officers. The Police are here to serve and protect the people, but do they consider blacks or other races people? It’s like we’re animals that they’re just shooting; it even has us scared to go for a walk because the Police are giving the citizens the feeling that they can shoot people and not get charged like Travon Martin.
With all this going on, it brought light to a movement that has been taken as a lackluster movement…The Black Lives Matter. “The Black Lives Matter protests for reform in law enforcement and for greater social equality have espoused some tactics which appear to be in direct opposition to one another.” When the George Floyd killing happened, that’s when the height of Black Lives Matter went to an all-time high!!!
News of the killing sparked an immediate protest of policing behavior, with the first protest taking place in Minneapolis on the next day, May 26, 2020.1 The death of George Floyd also sparked widespread protests in large cities nationwide.
A Global Response to Racial Injustice
While many protests were peaceful, some were violent. There were large incidents of looting in cities such as Chicago, Minneapolis, and Los Angeles, as well as smaller cities. It even got to a point where police units started to use force against protesters, including pepper spray, tear gas, and rubber bullets. But, the force came after cities put out nightly curfews. But it didn’t stop there!!!
The George Floyd killing caused outrage throughout the world!!! Brazilians filled the streets following the recent killing of a 14-year-old black teenager by Brazilian Police. Protests in London and Amsterdam even brewed out with the support of the U.S. Black Lives Matter and called attention to racism and injustice in Britain and Europe. So this shows you that racism and racial inequality are not in just one place. It is everywhere!!!
There is even racism among the same races. A Lot of black people separate themselves by the shade of their black, and Caucasian people separate themselves by social status or class. So it’s not just a one-race thing or a one-way thing. It is everything. However, blacks and
people of color are treated worse, and we’re tired!!!
George Floyd had three home-going services, and during one of the services, In his eulogy, Reverend Al Sharpton stated, ‘God took the rejected stone and made him the cornerstone of a movement that’s going to change the whole wide world.’ That is true; it took for this man’s life to be taken for the world to realize that we are wrong and it is time for a change, and this election proved that we are ready for change.
Change is what we got.
This Movement has brought America closer than ever. We were in the streets protesting even during a pandemic. People were risking their life and chances of catching a disease that could kill them. It was thousands of people out in the streets posting, but everyone had a mask on. Still, it was during a pandemic, and this showed how committed we were. It wasn’t only black people protesting, it was people of all racist backgrounds, but there still was hate.
On August 25, 2020, Kyle Rittenhouse decided to go to a Kenosha city protest and shoot innocent protesters, and he was arrested and unharmed. This goes to show that even after what happened to George Floyd, it is still some injustice that is not equal; this kid shot and killed multiple people and made it out alive, but an innocent black man gets accused of having counterfeit money and gets strangled for it. It is horrific. It goes to show that America has some improvement to do.
“Based on research Acknowledging institutional racism is the first step to addressing it. Indigenous social disadvantage is associated with increased crime, compounded by aggressive and disproportionate punishment, creating a cycle of disadvantage. Closing the gap is easy to say but difficult to achieve. Doctors who can not only provide evidence-based, high-quality care at the bedside but who strive for health justice, advocate for more equitable health policies, and are willing to challenge harmful systemic issues like institutional racism”.
The Need for Reform and Education
At the end of the day, we as a whole are going to have to deal with racism and institutionalism because a lot of people still have to learn and stop being ignorant. Racism is something that ignorant people do. Officer Chauvin was ignorant when he ignored George Floyd’s plea for his life, Zimmerman was ignorant when he shot Trayvon Martin for having a bag of Skittles, Rittenhouse was ignorant for shooting innocent black protestors, and Dylann Roof was ignorant for shooting innocent black churchgoers. All of them were ignorant when they did their acts, and they had no hearts.
That’s why we as a whole should educate ourselves and generations to come about racism in America. We have to stand united and be one for us all to succeed and be prosperous. God loves us all; red, yellow, black, or white. He loves us, and those who believe in the power of God should listen to him, and his word and all come together as one and not be identified by race but as God’s children.
References:
- “Protests and Demonstrations” – The New York Times. (2020, July 30). Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/news-event/george-floyd-protests-minneapolis-new-york-los-angeles
- Ren, J., & Bennett, D. E. (2021). “Did Black Lives Matter? Social Media, Protests, and Demonstrations”. Social Science Quarterly, 102(2), 659-677.
- “George Floyd’s Killing at the Hands of the Police” – Council on Foreign Relations. (2020, June 4). Retrieved from https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/george-floyds-killing-hands-police
- Frankenberg, R. (1993). “White Women, Race Matters: The Social Construction of Whiteness”. University of Minnesota Press.
- Patel, N., & Seyed-Raeisy, I. (2021). “Reconceptualizing Racism as a Public Health Issue: A Critical Review”. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, 8(4), 833-840.
- Keet, A., & Walsh, M. (2020). “The Killing of George Floyd Sparks Global Demonstrations”. Council on Foreign Relations. Retrieved from https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/killing-george-floyd-sparks-global-demonstrations
- Sofer, M. (2021). “Racial Discrimination as a Social Determinant of Health”. In Social Determinants of Health: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Social Inequality and Wellbeing (pp. 103-116). Springer.
- Levin, B. (2006). “The violence of hate: Confronting racism, anti-Semitism, and other forms of bigotry”. Algora Publishing.
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