Eight Minutes and Forty-Six Seconds

There is no right side of the equation with the George Floyd murder. On the left side of the plus sign is a Black man who was subdued murdered on camera for the entire world to see. On the right side of the plus sign is four law enforcement officers who stood by and watched. As if they had done it before.

And the sum equates of those six individuals meeting up on that fateful Monday for eight minutes and forty-six seconds. Would result in riots, shootings, car accidents, looting, and politicians who are mute. Along with Verbose politicians. The alt-right who is inciting violence during some protests. And Trucks that are trying to bogard themselves through a sea of people. People are firing arrows into the protestors. People are firing at the protestors. Gangs protecting their neighborhoods. And a whole lot of fires.

Yet It only took eight minutes and forty-six seconds to ignite a riot in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic.

And across the new cycles, pundits and cynics alike, there is a sense of Karen-like entitlement that these protestors are thugs, thieves, and malcontents bucking the rule of law. That the riots and protests are just a phase by people wanting new shoes, or televisions, home goods, or just have a thirst for violence. Mind you that a majority of these same protestors were either working, sitting at home, or trying to self-isolate. I’m sure that none of the protestors awoke on May 24 with the intent of marching down their respective streets enraged the following week.

Some move to say George Floyd was a criminal. Be that as it may, even IF he was a criminal, there is a thing called due process afforded to people in police custody. Not death by asphyxiation.  

Yet this my America. Because young people are out in the hundreds of thousands, demanding better treatment, better civil liberties, police protection without summary execution or they will burn your shit to the ground.

This is America after all. Land of revolution. Land of freedom of speech and right to protest unjust laws. A land where taking a knee is criticized. A land where marching in peace is ridiculed. A land where a Black Man can’t birdwatch (he's the first birdwatching Black dude I've ever heard of) without 911 being called and his life being placed in potential jeopardy. And the land of Crispus Attucks for without his sacrifice would America even exist? So, as the riots roar on the question remains, “What do they seek from this?” And my answer would be freedom from death by assumption. Death because it is assumed that all Black Men are violent, rage-filled, hyper-sexed, brutes bent on destroying the social fabric of America and need to be put down like animals.

Vale