When the video of the final moments of George Floyd’s life went viral across America and the world, there was a collective gasp that transcended race, a pandemic and party affiliation. The stark reality of the brutality of what we were seeing was hard to comprehend.
While we must be patient for the justice system to address those who perpetrated this horrendous act, we are called upon once again to create sustainable change to end these acts against black men by law enforcement and others. This begins with the police better policing themselves in view of the reported 18 complaints lodged against the police officer pinning George Lloyd down. It is critical that a system that fails to expeditiously remove bad cops be disrupted so there is hope for the future. Eighteen is a very painful, yet powerful number. We have higher standards for those who interface with our citizens.
We are called upon to build bridges between the white communities and the black and minority communities that do not just end this violence, but also addresses the inequities faced by minorities in our country. But meaningful change will only occur when white America acknowledges the legacy of white privilege and joins with fellow citizens of color to speak in one voice for social equality and justice.
I believe that greater social interaction among our various ethnic and racial groups is a powerful way to achieve lasting change. Through social engagement we create personal bonds that impact our views and actions because we have gained empathy and understanding of others. When this activity is propagated among communities, there is hope that such brutal acts perpetrated by one human being on another that is based on racist thinking and leanings will one day be rare. We have a long way to go.
While one may think that socializing is something that can be readily done, there are long term structural barriers such as housing and education that hinder social interactions between races in our country. We need to do more to bring these barriers down.
We must find ways to dialog with our fellow citizens through our hearts. We need to have friends that don’t look like us—and celebrate those few differences because we actually have so much in common on which to build.
We need to be more acknowledging of a unique group in our country that is descendant from slaves who built the economic backbone of our country for over 200 years, yet once freed still had to battle for rights that other citizens take for granted—that has lasted another one hundred and fifty years.
While gains were made from the difficult desegregation struggles of the 1950’s and the civil rights movement of the 1960’s, progress is stalled– and that became too evident after Hurricane Katrina and most recently in the disproportionate impact the coronavirus has had on black, brown, and poor communities. We need to understand their unique struggle and make it ours.
We cannot bring George Floyd back, but we can take steps that may give his life and death greater meaning. When I saw a docile man lying on the ground saying “I can’t breathe” while a white police officer kept a knee pinned on his neck and his fellow officers showed no concern, I was appalled. As I and others watched in horror as life left his body, we paused and thought, “Did I really see what I just saw?”
We must not let the violence divert our focus on this particular event that has broken our hearts. While violence may represent the magnitude of frustration by the black community, it unfortunately makes whites fearful or hesitant to join the many peaceful demonstrations—losing the important opportunity of creating stronger bonds throughout the greater community to propel change. Community leadership now has a critical role in stopping the violence, so federal action that is self-serving is preempted. We need to be all in this together, if there is to be meaningful change. We have done it before.
I applaud Governor Murphy’s announcement of updates on initiatives underway to hold the police to the highest professional standards, the close monitoring of the use of force and the establishing of government policies that focus on a range of historical challenges for blacks and minorities.
We have seen a few encouraging signs by police leaders now joining with the protestors, some bending a knee in prayer, the firing of the involved officer within 24 hours and now finally the charging of all officers. Those actions suggest that there may be something different happening here. We need to grab hold of those threads that George Floyd gave us —and if we do, he will never be forgotten.
