Why protesting the murder of George Floyd matters and is necessary
Article By Dianna Hobbs // EEW Magazine Online // Black Lives Matter
Believe it or not, there are current debates raging across America about the merits of taking to the streets to peacefully protest the murder of unarmed black man, George Floyd, by Minneapolis police officers.
Some conservative journalists and talking heads have claimed that systemic racism and injustice are merely fictitious ideas and complaints created and promoted by liberal, left-leaning democrats, hoping to seize political power.
Everyone is overreacting, they claim. And since George Floyd’s record was not squeaky clean (he had done time in the past), he had issues with substance abuse, and he was allegedly breaking the law by trying to make a purchase with a counterfeit $20 bill at the time of his arrest, then that makes him unworthy of this level of outrage.
While no one has gone as far as to (publicly) say the officers involved should not be held accountable and jailed, those who do not wholeheartedly support the #BlackLivesMatter cause have used other arguments to discredit the movement.
They point to black on black crime, a victim mentality among black people fueled by the “democratic plantation,” or even black folks’ propensity to commit more crimes. They will say anything to deny that law enforcement and the unchecked corruption within police forces across America have led to the harm and deaths of unarmed black men and women.
According to research from Mapping Police Violence, an organization that gathers data and details on deaths known to be caused by police, 1,000 unarmed people died as a result of police harm between 2013 and 2019, a third of which were black.
17% of the black people who died as a result of the aforementioned police harm were unarmed – representing a larger share than any other racial group and about 1.3 times more than the average of 13%. In 2019, 54% of those who died as a result of harm from police and whose race was identified were people of color.
Only about 1% of police officers involved with these deaths are charged with a crime and even less are convicted (Source: U.S. News & World Report)
Why the discrepancy? Why do choke-holds, knees on necks, excessive force, and premature gunshots eliminate people of color more often? Can we deny that something is amiss? Do we pretend that each case is an isolated incident and not linked to a larger issue?
On June 17, 2015, white supremacist Dylann Roof murdered nine innocent black people at a Bible study group at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC. When police calmly arrested him, without incident, they also bought him Burger King when he said he was hungry.
When a white father and son, Gregory and Travis McMichael, chased down a black, unarmed jogger, Ahmaud Arbery, outside of Brunswick, GA and shot him to death on February 23, 2020, they were not arrested until May 7, more than two months later – after a video was leaked of their crime. That arrest, too, was without incident.
In January 2020, the FBI arrested three men, Brian Mark Lemley, Jr., Patrik Jordan Mathews, and William Garfield Bilbrough, IV, all members of a violent white supremacist group called “The Base.” They had been under FBI surveillance for months and were all taken into custody on firearm and alien-smuggling charges without any issues.
But on July 17, 2014, Eric Garner was killed in the New York City borough of Staten Island by police for allegedly selling loose cigarettes. On November 22, 2014, Tamir Rice, only 12 years old, was shot by police within seconds while in the park playing with a toy gun. On July 6, 2016, Philando Castile was murdered by a cop in Falcon Heights, a suburb of Saint Paul, Minnesota, after being pulled over and complying with the officer, even announcing that he was in possession of a legal firearm to avoid any trouble.
There are countless other contrasting incidents that make it clear that police treat black people differently, and anything, no matter how minor, even non-criminal, can mean a death sentence for the suspected and accused.
This is why protesting the murder of George Floyd matters and is necessary. It brings awareness to the systemic racism, police brutality and violence against black people – though many wish to ignore it and still choose to deny it.
Black lives matter. George Floyd’s life mattered. Protesting injustice matters. If we stop fighting for freedom, equality and justice, that guarantees that racism and the unjust systems it has created will continue to grow and flourish.
We cannot let that happen. Not on our watch.
Dianna Hobbs is Founder of Empowering Everyday Women, a 501c3 nonprofit urban evangelism ministry and humanitarian organization. She also founded EEW Magazine Online in 2007. Follow her at Facebook.com/dianna.hobbs.
