Amidst the war against the pandemic already wreaking havoc on life as we know it globally, America has another war to fight within its borders. Peaceful and not-so-peaceful protests have wreaked havoc amongst many cities and states across the country with the slogan “No Justice, No Peace” seeking justice for the murder of George Floyd at the hands of four of Mi
eapolis Police Department’s Officers. In some places the rioting has gotten so bad, curfews have been invoked including our State of Arizona where a curfew is in place nightly through Monday June 8 from 8 PM to 5 AM.
In the video that has gone viral you can hear Floyd telling them he can’t breathe, asking for water, asking for his mother, and hear him say “They’re going to kill me, man” to the bystanders and “Don’t kill me” to the officers. He died with a knee on his neck for over 8 minutes – minutes and 53 seconds of that time was after he became unresponsive. What was Floyd being arrested for? He was trying to use a $20 bill to buy something that tu
ed out to be counterfeit and the store owner called the cops. They had no proof that bill was his or information on where he got it. Floyd did not get a chance to be tried for whatever it is they would have charged him with but he lost his life – all over a fake $20 bill whose origins are unknown. Incidents of police brutality and murder continue to take place – there are those that are recorded like George Floyd’s and thousands that are not.
They say protest peacefully but Colin Kaepe
ick did just that when he took a knee during the National Anthem in peaceful protest against the treatment of African Americans at the hands of police officers. What did that get him? He lost his entire professional football career because after he was released in 2017, no team would sign him again. They say bu
ing things will not help but all over America, videos of people bu
ing Nike merchandise went viralwhen a new Nike ad campaign starred Colin Kaepe
ick after his peaceful protests. Why are rules different for people on different sides of the argument? Violence is not the answer but we have to ask ourselves, were we listening when these protests were peaceful? Maybe if we had taken all the peaceful protests seriously when they were happening trying to address the issue at hand, we wouldn’t be here today watching our cities bu
. Maybe if someone had taken the 18 complaints against Derek Chauvin seriously, the man whose knee to the neck killed Geroge Floyd, George Floyd would be alive today.
We all want our lives back! We want to be free from the pandemic, we want to be able to go out without worrying about discrimination from those hired to protect us or being hurt by those rioting and looting in response to the discrimination. We all want to be free but freedom will only come when we lea
to treat each other equally and with respect – freedom is only possible when our leaders fight for a “UNITED” States of America instead of pitting us against each other for their own benefit.
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