I woke up Tuesday morning thinking I was going to have a regular day. I look on my phone, and go on Instagram and the first post I see is from the Shaderoom. I saw George Floyd being pinned down by his neck ,shouting, "Please, I can't breathe." I only say two seconds, but hearing the pain and fear in his voice, I was immediately in tears. Another black man to dying by the hands of police and it's caught on camera. And what was it over? An alleged fake 20 dollar bill that turned out to be real. A father of two and a security guard lost his life over 20 dollars. Make that make sense; you can't because it shouldn't. This man did not deserve to die.
The video went viral, and people were in outrage, that's when the protests began. It took a national outcry for the firing to happen the next day. It took four days for Derek Chauvin to get arrested and nine days for the other three officers to be arrested and charged. It should be a victory, but it took over a week after protests and riots for this to happen. We can't even be fully happy about it because we know how this plays out. There's a trial, we wait to see if there's a verdict, and then we have to wait to see if there's a real conviction. And most of the time it doesn't happen in these cases. George Floyd's family deserves justice for this wrongful death.
Worldwide protests in solidarity with George Floyd protests in USAwww.youtube.com
The protests have spread to every state in the United States and spread to 18 different countries. They see what is happening and are marching with us. The people are angry and are tired of this happening over and over again. What needs to be said is that protesters and looters are two different people out there for two reasons. Peaceful protests are happening, and you see police causing chaos and instigating arrests and riots in the crowds. The police are getting exposed for their brutality with videos of tear gas, shooting rubber bullets, and even running over protesters with their cars.
I don't condone looting and riots, but I understand why it's happening. People are tired of another black life becoming a hashtag. We just saw the Ahmaud Arbery video a few weeks ago, and they charged the three men involved. Breonna Taylor had shot and killed in her own home while she was sleeping, and those officers still haven't been charged. Having it happen back to back to back, people are so angry and sad and are tired of being sick and tired. They have been going through this for years and have been begging for change, but the world still wouldn't listen. Everyone has been quoting Martin Luther King Jr., a man who peacefully protested in the civil rights movement and still got killed because of it. We tried the peaceful protests, and you guys didn't listen. We tried kneeling, and everyone went off, saying it was disrespecting the flag. Do we have your attention now? This is what happens when people are done sitting and watching their people be killed every day.The amount of allyship I have seen the last week has been amazing. I've been having conversations with people about what they can do and how they can help educate themselves regarding the movement and racial injustice. We are getting the small victories, but the fight is not over, we will not stop fighting. We are going to continue to march for George, for Breonna, for Ahmaud, and for every person who has lost their lives to police brutality. We need to keep the fight for justice and for real change to happen, so our children don't have to march for twenty years. We need change, so no more names are added to this ever-growing list.
Black Lives Matter. Black Women Lives Matter. Black Children's Lives Matter. Black Trans Lives Matter. All Black Lives Matter.
