As many cities across this great country on this date seem to be celebrating Mr. George Floyd, his tragic death came at the hands of the Minneapolis police. The tributes to his name confuse me. As I study the legacy of Mr. Floyd, I find a troubled man at the mercy of drugs, unable to control his temperament with women and anybody else for that matter. It was ironic that on a televised news show of a “George Floyd Square” tribute, shots rang out, only to remind us that it’s not about the constant quest of turf among the gangs and their distribution of drugs.
We’ve witnessed a travesty of injustice. An overzealous cop trying to restrain an individual quite accustomed to the ways of law enforcement, unwilling to summit his self. Mr. Floyd was 6’3” and weighed about 230 pounds, a hard individual to control under any circumstances. My goal here is not to legitimatize or delegitimatize anything. As I’ve told my wife, the cops on this apprehension, lost control.
I watch my small community making some sort of tribute, celebration in honor of what would normally be thought of as a criminal, drug addict and abuser of women. This collapse of our virtues and way of life is appalling. I suspect I’ll be chastised for my opinion, called names and maybe cancelled. They risk their lives trying to make our lives safe, yet we find ourselves honoring a man who was being arrested for passing out counterfeit $20 bills while possessing fentenal, an illegal drug!
I, long ago, thought we have as a society, shredded the shackles of racism, this nonsensical obsession with the thinnest thing that divides us ... our skin. As a white person, I still hold my convictions to the words of a black man, a visionary, a man of God who’s determination and strength pulled an entire nation out from the darkness of an attitude that most certainly would have destroyed us. I consider myself blessed and will forever be beholding to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Maybe we should reconsider our merit system when it comes to handing out tributes.
