Minnesota Burning

 

 

I have to concede that African Americans were quite patient and tolerant during the administration of Barack Obama. For eight long years, as some within the white political power structure questioned the man's religion and even his citizenship, black folks, for the most part, shrugged the nonsense off. The camel's back was broken last week in Minnesota. Donald Trump threw another piece of raw meat towards his half-witted, racist base yesterday. He threatened to send the military - not the National Guard, mind you - but the military into the powder-keg that the city of Minneapolis, Minnesota has become in the last six days. This is a terrible idea that is almost certain to make a bad situation untenable. If the president is smart....never mind.

 

Minneapolis and St. Paul are known as the twin cities. I get the feeling that Minneapolis must be the evil twin. RIM SHOT!

 

What I find astonishing (and quite hopeful) is the fact that more white people seem to be expressing shock and outrage over what happened to George Floyd than any racial crime before. Here's something that completely blew me away: even Sean Hannity was fit-to-be-tied by this incident! Sean has never been very sensitive to the plight of certain members of the human race. Perhaps the guy isn't a lost cause after all. I hope not.

We've come so far with respect to peace, love and racial understanding since I was born nearly sixty-two years ago, but Lord Knows we've got a long way to go. The tragedy of George Floyd at the hands of one stupid and vicious cop is a punch to the face of every person with a molecule of humanity. This is not something that good and decent people do.

Watching the idiotic bastard drain George's life from his body in such a hideously nonchalant way - with his hands in his pockets - is a disturbing image that generations of people (black and white) will carry with them to their graves. I understand that charging him with first degree murder night be a tricky prospect which could lead to an acquittal, but he should have, at the very least, been charged with second degree. Anything else is unacceptable. Did Derek Chauvin somehow think the was acting heroically when he forcefully jammed his knee onto George Floyd's neck? He must have known that several cellphone cameras were recording his every move! Were the hands-in-the pocket merely some kind of macho pose? What the hell was he thinking? I'd love to know the answer to that one.

I was almost tempted to post a link to the video of the murder of George Floyd at the bottom of this piece but I thought better of it. In fact, I hope I never have to see it again; so awful and disturbing is it. But it is a bleak reminder of the inhumanity towards our African American brothers and sisters that is exhibited on a daily basis in too many parts of this country.

Will it ever go away? I have no answers.

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY