Sometimes the weight of being black is extremely heavy and exhausting. Yesterday I woke up to yet another black life being snuffed out, in public, by another white police officer.
George Floyd while pleading for his life face down on the ground, handcuffed as a cowardly white cop rested his knee bearing all of his body’s weight on George’s neck until he stopped breathing. Three additional officers kneeling on the rest of his body. 500 pounds of pressure on one man. All while he begged for relief of any kind, for water, for his LIFE. The reason for his detainment, a possible bad check.
I need you to imagine that for a moment. Imagine possibly doing something, and it ending in your death, or the death of a loved one just because they’re black. I need every non black person to understand how heavy that is.
In the video, I noticed the pride in the way the white cop who kneeled on his neck moved after he finally got up. The way he adjusted his vest as he walked away like it was just another day on the job. I saw another “good ol’ boy”.
For years this has been our reality. George Floyd is just one of many, and unfortunately he won’t be the last.
Breonna Taylor
Ahmaud Arbery
Tamar Rice
Sandra Bland
Keith Childress
Kevin Matthews
Cornelius Brown
Miles Hall
Steven Demarco Taylor
I could create a list that goes on for days. I never thought that in my lifetime I would experience the lynchings of innocent black people like the stories my father told of his experiences during the 40s and 50s.
Truth is, racism never went away. Lynchings never stopped. The issue of racism in Amerikkka is just as prevalent as it was 50 years ago. I’m tired. I’m spent. I’m scared for my children.
This is why we kneel. This is why we march. This is why we protest. This is why we chant, BLACK LIVES matter. Today I weep for the lives of every black boy, girl, man and woman murdered by a white police officer and Amerikkkan citizen who feel empowered by those in power to take justice into their own hands. Lastly, to those of you who do not exercise your right to vote....this is what 45 means when he says “Make Amerikkka Great Again”. Wake Up!
I’ll end with this...The Black National Anthem
“Lift ev'ry voice and sing
'Til earth and heaven ring
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the list'ning skies
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun
Let us march on 'til victory is won
Stony the road we trod
Bitter the chastening rod
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died
Yet with a steady beat
Have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered
Out from the gloomy past
'Til now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast
God of our weary years
God of our silent tears
Thou who has brought us thus far on the way
Thou who has by Thy might
Led us into the light
Keep us forever in the path, we pray
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee
Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee
Shadowed beneath Thy hand
May we forever stand
True to our God
True to our native land”
Until next time...💔