Today’s article is offered by a guest writer. These unique perspectives come from a black man that has lived in the environment that now dominates the news his whole life. Communication of experiences from all walks of life is our desire and we encourage others to participate and share their thoughts.
GEORGE FLOYD
These are just a few random thoughts that I have about the recent events regarding George Floyd. First, I would like to set some ground rules to attempt to keep my foot out of my mouth and not to offend someone to shade their opinion before they finish reading the entire post. After you’ve read the entirety, then feel free to either agree or criticize. I won’t use the following words: Democrats, Republicans, Conservatives, Liberals, Progressives, Trump, Biden, Clinton, Christian, Islam or The Ohio State Buckeyes. These words and phrases tend to distract from the main point of this writing.
What happened to George Floyd was a waste of life caused by an evil person. I haven’t spoken to anyone or heard any difference of opinion about his death. Yes, I know there was one Mississippi Mayor that sided with the policeman initially but very soon came out with a statement that walked back everything he said. Everyone agrees this is a travesty of justice. There was no reason a policeman had to keep his knee on the neck of a person not resisting arrest with him and onlookers both saying that he couldn’t breathe until he died. This is a classic case of police brutality. There are a lot of both people and groups that says this is a racist act. While this is possible, I’ve seen no evidence that this is the case. They have mentioned that the four policemen involved had some prior cases of too much force during arrests. Again, no evidence of racial targeting of any particular group or race. I tend to believe if there’s a racist policeman then there should have been some prior occurrences, but maybe not.
The Ahmaud Arbrey incident that happened in Georgia appears to be more of a case of racial targeting by a few individuals against a Black jogger that was running in the wrong neighborhood. I came to this conclusion based on numerous articles and television reports. I try to look at the facts in each case and use what little common since to draw my own opinion of what happened.
There are too many groups using the George Floyd unfortunate death to push their own personal agenda. There are a very large number of whites protesting side by side with blacks. This leads me to believe there is still hope for us and our society. I know it’s naive to think that right and fairness will always win in the end. But, thinking that there’s always a bad policeman or a racist on the other side of the door is not how I choose to live my life. I can’t read minds and half the time when I try to guess someone’s reasons for their actions, I’m probably wrong. Living as a victim or if someone is always out to get me because of the color of my skin gives me no peace or rest ever. I refuse to live in fear or constant apprehension.
Protesting is something that I might do or be involved with. However, looting and rioting in my own neighborhood and destroying businesses of innocent people is something I would never do. The death of George Floyd should not be tainted with violence, destruction of property and pushing political agendas. Systemic racism is something that can’t be fixed by any laws or statures because it requires a change in the heart not the ballot box and certainly it won’t get fixed in the streets with violent confrontations. I do believe that things are getting better because I’m over 60 years old and a lot of the current events would have been thought to be OK by most of the populace but now very few would agree that what happened to George Floyd is right and no one would state it publicly. Things are getting better and hopefully they’ll be perfect by the time I die, hopefully.
FRFP
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