I Can't Breathe
I’m having a very hard time with this George Floyd incident.
I understand why the other cops didn’t intervene. As a unit, you need to have each other’s backs. But the deafness on which the bystanders pleas fell...that’s what’s so deeply unsettling. Ignoring the fact that the citizens you are sworn to protect telling you that the man just went unconscious and not even turning back to check. Not even acting like you care.
To anyone who touts Blue Lives Matter, I would love to know your thoughts on this incident. I have a great deal of respect for the police. It’s an incredibly hard, dangerous, and underpaid/under-respected job. But if you can’t see the injustice in this incident or you feel inclined to justify the officer’s actions, I would sincerely like to know why.
And if you find yourself not bothered by this incident, I would encourage you to ask yourself why. This was not a violent incident they were called to handle. The police were responding to a “forgery in progress”. Imagine if this was your brother, your best friend, your husband who died from the police responding to a “forgery in progress”. How would you feel then?
Lately, I’ve found myself asking, how racist is America? Right now, it’s hard not to have that knee jerk reaction saying “very much so”, but the more I think about the issues that exist in our country, the more I realize it’s not cultural/interpersonal racism that’s the issue or even necessarily the systems we have in place. I’m grateful that the overt racism that the ancestors on my dad’s side experienced and the ancestors on my mom’s side delivered has been greatly diminished, but the problems that exist today are directly tied back to our country’s past. And there are still relics of it. Look at redlining and how segregated our neighborhoods still are. Look at the war on drugs and how many black kids grow up without a father. Look at the penal system with mandatory minimum sentences for minor crimes. Yeah, systemic racism is mostly gone, but where does that leave us now?
The plight of struggling African Americans is predominantly a socioeconomic one today. Statistically speaking, many come from poorer neighborhoods. Neighborhoods that don’t value education. Neighborhoods rife with conflict. Neighborhoods that are unsafe, underfunded, and undernourished. It’s not racism that put them there in one sense...at least in one generation. They were just born there. And now, with all these factors working against them, we expect them to “just escape”. Escape from the only world they’ve ever known. Escape from family members’ recurring bad habits, the only friends they’ve ever known, the only place that feels like home. That’s what we’re asking them to do. Be a better person and leave everything they’ve ever known behind because it’s “bad for society”.
But how many of you still live within a few miles of your parents? Of the neighborhood you grew up in? How many of you have done only as well as your parents? How many of you have decided to leave it all behind and be an even better member of society? How many of you don’t have to worry about this question because your parents raised you in a way that society deems acceptable? How many of you can just sit back and criticize those who came from a different circumstance that you choose not to acknowledge?
It’s not easy to escape poverty. It’s not impossible, but it isn’t as simple as it seems on the surface. And when racism is the reason why your parents and your parent’s parents and their parent’s parents grew up in poverty, it’s easy to conflate racism with socioeconomic injustice.
So maybe have a little bit of empathy for these violent protesters and looters. Maybe they don’t know how to effectively voice their frustration with the situation life has handed them. Maybe we don’t condone them, but we also don’t have to condemn them. Maybe it’s not a racism thing now, but it definitely started out that way. And that’s a fact that isn’t easily remedied.
So what do we do next? I read this article recently and the words of this ex-cop really stuck with me. Having never been a cop, I can’t say I agree 100% with his sentiments, but he does strike a chord that’s got me thinking. Maybe it’s time to rebuild our systems of law and order from the ground up and get rid of a system founded on racism. The socioeconomic disparity in this country is unreal and it’s only getting worse...unless we, the people, start caring about it and loving those who we may never meet.
For those who have made it this far, please ask yourself, “What can I do?” Even the smallest efforts matter. The more people start speaking about injustice and learning about it, the more we can all make meaningful changes in our society. It’s not enough to just protest. Get involved in the political process. I wanted to leave you with the last words of the man who has helped so many people open their eyes:
It’s my face man
I didn’t do nothing serious man
please
please
please I can’t breathe
please man
please somebody
please man
I can’t breathe
I can’t breathe
please
man can’t breathe, my face
just get up
I can’t breathe
please
I can’t breathe sh*t
I will
I can’t move
mama
mama
I can’t
my knee
my nuts
I’m through
I’m through
I’m claustrophobic
my stomach hurt
my neck hurts
everything hurts
some water or something
please
please
I can’t breathe officer
don’t kill me
they gon’ kill me man
come on man
I cannot breathe
I cannot breathe
they gon’ kill me
they gon’ kill me
I can’t breathe
I can’t breathe
please sir
please
please
please I can’t breathe
