on George Floyd
- Gloria Gong
- Jun 4, 2020
- 3 min read
by Stephanie
A few weeks ago, we thought that the coronavirus pandemic was as major as it was going to get this year, after the fires that ravaged Australia and killed off wildlife and nature. But a few weeks ago, a man named George Floyd was killed by a police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and our nation erupted into more chaos than we ever imagined.
Today marks the ninth day of protests throughout the country clamoring for racial justice for African Americans. Hundreds of thousands of Americans flood the streets of cities in every state, carrying posters and their voices, shouting, “Black Lives Matter!”, and “Say his name- George Floyd!” The images of people flooding streets and highways carry with them a powerful sentiment and desire for equality and pent-up frustration at racial injustice in America. Though police killings of black Americans have been highlighted the past few years, George Floyd’s death prompted the greatest reactions, maybe because of a wanting to get out of quarantine, and maybe because of how people were finally forced to take in information while in quarantine. But it is most likely because there is something so inhumane and dehumanizing about George Floyd’s murder. His murderer’s- then-police officer Derek Chauvin- weapon of choice was neck compression that cut off Floyd’s flow of oxygen. This means that Floyd literally felt his life drain out of him for the entire last 8 minutes and 46 seconds of his life, while Chauvin, his face about only five feet above Floyd’s, felt no incentive to lessen his pressure on a man who did not resist the police. Videos taken by bystanders are heartbreaking and incredibly saddening. Floyd’s pleas for help and just a little lessening of pressure tug at the heart because his anguish and helplessness are heard so clearly. A tall, strong, God-believing man held captive by another human, reduced to begging in a weak, dry voice that barely rasps out, “I can’t breathe”, “Please”, and, most hauntingly, “Moma”.
Chauvin does not relent, not even after emergency medical technicians arrived and attempted to treat him. Any job in law enforcement is tough because it occasionally demands for an officer to hold in his hands the life of another human being, and act as God and make a choice of either life or death. Everyone can agree that Derek Chauvin made the wrong choice that day. Chauvin slowly squeezed the life out of a man who said he would get into the police car when he was asked, a man who believed in kindness, helping others, and a man who was looking forward to a new life in a new state.
And now, protestors march through freeways and streets in a call for justice not only for George Floyd, but for the racial injustices that black Americans have faced for their entire existence in America. Racism that has manifested in racial profiling, discrimination, and stereotyping that has effected the daily lives of black people and shaped their mentality as well as their opportunities in life. Systemic racism in the criminal justice system that has African Americans incarcerated at more than 5 times the rate of whites, and more specifically for drugs, six times the rate, though African Americans and whites use drugs at similar rates. More systemic racism in wealth, education, and employment. Our black neighbors are sick of it, and we should be too. A small minority have taken advantage of the situation to loot and burn and create chaos, disrupting peaceful protests. But this minority is also mostly made up of white people with ill intentions.
To use the words of Barack Obama, let’s use the urgency of the George Floyd protests to spark "real change". Let’s join our fellow Americans in peaceful protest, and march alongside them to show solidarity. Let’s sign petitions and donate to bail funds and non-profits for racial justice. Let’s vote in elections and attend local police commission meetings and town halls. Let’s raise our voices in activism and support, because, as we’ve learned, apathy kills. Action takes us one step closer to unity and equality.
DONATE
to Campaign Zero to change policing in America:
to George Floyd’s family’s GoFundMe to cover funeral costs and more:
to The Bail Project to bring people home:
https://bailproject.org/ GET EDUCATED
through books:
through movies:
find your local BLM chapter to learn about how you can help protests and campaigns:
contact your local representatives to stop militarization of police:
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