In 1630, a Puritan pilgrim by the name of John Winthrop was in route to what would become Massachusetts delivered a speech that would define the American dream for 400 years.
“For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us.”
In the past few days, we’ve seen a lot of anger. A lot of frustration. A lot of questions that have been left unanswered and people who are looking for help. We’ve seen people who want to use their voice for good and those who want to seek destruction for destructions sake. We’ve seen people who claim to serve and protect us, beat us for asking them to serve and protect us.
We’ve seen the leader of the free world threaten to use the military against his own citizens.
At 8:01 PM on Monday, May 25, 911 was called because George Floyd allegedly paid with a counterfeit bill. By 8:25, he was unconscious, as police officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee into his neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds while three other Minneapolis PD officers watched. In broad daylight, we watched another police officer take the life another African American man.
What was different about George Floyd? Why did this incident cause what we see today? Police brutality, especially against African Americans, has been a problem for years, so where has all this emotion, anger, rage, grief, and agony come from?
With the George Floyd incident, and the resulting incident at the numerous protests across the country, we’ve been introduced to the form of policing no one wanted to believe.
We’ve seen cops acting with pure violence in full view of cameras, and they don’t care. We’ve seen journalists arrested live on TV. We’ve seen camera men hit with non-lethal projectiles. We’ve seen innocent protestors brutally arrested with no cause. We’ve seen police look right in the face of a camera and spray mace at the operator. All of this, in a few days.
Lately, I’ve seen people who are angry with riots and looting, saying “this stopped being about George Floyd a long time ago.”
I would like to partially agree. While justice for George Floyd is still massively important, the root of the protests isn’t one incident. The problem doesn’t rest solely on Derek Chauvin’s shoulders, it rests in every person who resists the change we so desperately need.
Protests are being held worldwide, from the Los Angeles to New York to Paris to London to Berlin.
The “City on the Hill” has fallen. It’s broken pieces are left in the streets for all of us to see. What’s even more painful is that it may have never have been the shining city we thought it was yesterday.
It’s time to come together and rebuild it the way it needs to be, not the way it was.
Thoughts and prayers are with the families of George Floyd and all the innocent men and women who have been taken from us unjustly. Links below are to help the family, the protests, and justice be served.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/georgefloyd
https://minnesotafreedomfund.org/donate
Dylan's Blog 