I’ll Keep Talking About George Floyd

Sometimes I will feature quotes in my blogs.  Today, here’s a quote from my own mouth:

“I’m not gonna tell you how to think, but I am gonna tell you how I think.”

That’s basically a mantra that I live by, so why shouldn’t I behave the same way on the internet, in my blog or on social media?

I’m talking about George Floyd not because I want you to change your mind about something.  I’m merely trying to impart my own thoughts on the matter.  The desired effect is that you get in touch with your own thoughts on it, so you’re not just reverberating with the most loudly-broadcast thoughts of other people.

I will keep talking about George Floyd because his personal story is an important reminder of what is wrong with America’s culture of race and racism, as well as what is wrong with America’s police system.  We tell a lot of stories about our country, about how it was, how it is, and how it will be.  But, ultimately, it is these stories of actual human lives that matter most.  These are the stories that teach us truth, that impart the biggest lessons.  These are the stories that we remember, not only out of respectful memory for the individuals involved, but because of the larger narratives they encompass.

We remember the stories Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman because they were born in to slavery, escaped it, and agitated until it that horrific institution was eliminated.  They remind us why we never want to return to that sin of human slavery in this country, nor allow it to continue in any other place on earth.

We remember the stories of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. because they were ministers and leaders within their communities who were assassinated by powerful forces who feared their influence.  They remind us that power will try to exterminate truth, but truth will always outlive power.

We remember the stories of Amadou Diallo, Eric Garner–and now George Floyd–because the police who approached them had already judged them and convicted them in their own minds, and then made themselves the executioners.  They remind us that skin color is still cause for differential treatment and increased threat of death in this country, and that is an untenable position.