On George Floyd, Empathy, and the Road Ahead

What a week. Those of you who follow me on Twitter may have seen that, a week ago today, I was expressing my anger over the behavior of Amy Cooper, a white woman who, after being asked to leash her dog in an area of Central Park where this is required, proceeded to call the police on the Black man, Christian Cooper who simply asked her to obey the law. All of this was caught on video, and as a Black man it really made my blood boil because it was obvious to me, and many others in fact, white and black, that her 911 call was a threat of violence, a call to authorities who would likely hear her tone and his description and respond brashly and harshly.

Little did I know at the time, that while I was tweeting about the Central Park video, another video had surfaced, demonstrating plainly the depraved brutality of four Minneapolis police officers who murdered George Floyd, an unarmed Black man. Those officers were called by a shop owner who accused him of using a counterfeit $20 bill.

George Floyd’s death, as you know, has since set off a powder keg of unrest across the United States and around the world. I think while the catalyst of what we’re seeing may have been, or was the act perpetrated by the officers, the cause is much deeper, it’s a centuries-old tradition of racism and race-based violence that this country, the United States, has not yet been able to come to terms with, and seems unwilling to come to terms with.

Not to mention the backdrop of a global pandemic and record unemployment. Both of which, at least here in America, have disproportionately impacted Blacks, and people of color, and the poor.

As much as I want to resolve these emotions, to have the answers, and to be able to give you answers. I know that there are no easy ones, and the solution to what we’re seeing now is not something that is going to happen overnight.

That’s all for today. Be safe, and catch you next time.