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Saturday May 30, 2020 ·
WE ALL CAN’T BREATHE
Our nation is being choked by the events that may seem recent but are rooted in the history of our nation. This year we all have learned that the most frightening symptom of the coronavirus is its ability to take over the respiratory system and restrict breathing. Frightening and deadly, it became the virus’ trademark. Hospitals rushed to find ventilators to ease the breathing of affected patients, Doctors intubated those whose lungs were so infected that breathing became impossible.
Then we have the cases of Eric Garner and more recently George Floyd whose breath was taken away by the force of renegade police officers who took it upon themselves to choke the life out of a fellow human. Caught on tape, these murders can best be explained as racism. Neither Garner nor Floyd were vicious criminals---Garner was selling contraband cigarettes on a Staten Island street corner, Floyd may or may not have passed on a counterfeit bill in a transaction at a convenience mart in Minneapolis. Neither man was armed. Neither was a mortal threat to the arresting officers. Both received the ultimate punishment allowed by law in 30 states, none of which are Minnesota or New York whose death penalty sentence has been made inactive. The use of deadly force, however, when black men are involved goes far beyond choking. Young men of color must live with the realization that at any time, for whatever reason, whether they have committed a crime or not, their ultimate judgment would not be issued in a court of law, but can be meted out in the street. Ask Eric Garner, or Michael Brown, or Abner Louima, or Amadou Diallo, or Walter Scott, or Freddie Gray, or Laquan McDonald, or Philando Castile, or Terence Crutcher, or Antwon Rose II, or O'Shae Terry, or Kelly Thomas, or Oscar Grant, or…..George Floyd. None of these black men had committed a crime that would have been considered serious. Some had committed no crime. All were executed by police officers on the street.
SOME OF THESE THINGS AREN’T LIKE THE OTHERS
For those who want to quibble and distort the argument, this week on the day George Floyd begged his oppressor for his life, to remove his knee from the handcuffed and prostrate victim, an armed white young man was apprehended by police. Peter Manfredonia was known to have killed two people---one was hacked to death by a machete. He shot another young man and kidnapped his girlfriend. He was hunted for several days leading police officers on a multi-state manhunt. At the time of his capture, he was carrying a duffel bag containing weapons. Here is an account of his capture and arrest:
“...the manhunt ended in Hagerstown, Maryland, on Wednesday night when an investigator being briefed on his description pointed to a man of that height nearby, and the detective delivering the briefing noticed his red sneakers, police said. The side view profile of him also matched photos of Manfredonia, according to Connecticut State Police Lt. Michael Pendleton.
The team immediately went over to Manfredonia with guns drawn and told him to get on the ground, and he cooperated.
"At that point he went to the ground, he did not resist, and absolutely no force was used to arrest him...”
CNN, 05/28/2020
Dylann Roof was a young white supremacist who walked into Emanuel AME Episcopal Church in Charleston killing 9 black participants including their pastor. He hesitated firing on the group because after inviting him to join them, they treated him so kindly. He, too, was on the run and armed when captured, again without incident:
Dylann Roof was caught after 11 a.m. ET following Wednesday night's massacre at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. He was arrested about 245 miles north in Shelby, North Carolina, during a traffic stop, Charleston Police Chief Gregory Mullen said at a news conference.
Shelby police received a tip about a suspicious car in the area and arrested Roof without incident, Mullen added.
"I am so pleased that we were able to resolve this case quickly ... so that nobody else is harmed by this individual who obviously committed a tragic, heinous crime in the city of Charleston," Mullen said.
I am not advocating for Roof or Peter Manfredonia to have been treated like the young black men above---only that their lives be valued as worthy as that of any person under the law---that justice is meted out in a courtroom and not on the street.
I am reminded of the opening of The National Memorial for Peace and Justice last year. As you may recall the museum sponsored by the Equal Justice Initiative recounts the era between 1877 and 1950---an era in which the practice of lynching was most active in America. In that period more than 4400 human beings had the life illegally choked out of them. They, too, died because they couldn’t breathe. They, like the young black men noted above, were the victims of what can only be called endemic racism that remains America’s abiding shame---our self inflicted national wound. The death of George Floyd is nothing more than our own perpetuation of, and acceptance of the stain left upon our founding documents by slavery. Back then as it remains today, given a choice between human lives and the economy, the economy wins. How ironic that these same themes collide in the course of our national affairs again---even more ironic that the document that purported to recognize the equality of all men is now being used to deny it to some. There is a straight line connecting the kind of martial lawlessness we are witnessing today and the history of racism in America. It started with a choice that was deemed an imperative.
NO PLACE IS SAFE
"The thing about the lynching era was the capriciousness of it -- no space was safe," says Anderson, an African-American studies professor at Emory University in Atlanta.
"Folks of color were never at ease. You're looking all the time. You're wondering. Is this a place I can go? You could be walking down the street or in a store or you could be sitting on your front porch and you could get killed."
Gorge Floyd was sitting in his SUV along with two friends. He was pulled out of the vehicle and handcuffed. Everyone who witnessed the encounter insisted that Floyd didn’t resist. Even the store owner who accused him of trying to pass a twenty-dollar counterfeit bill agreed that there was no resistance. Officer Chauvin didn’t use a rope, just his knee. No, and he wasn’t wearing a white hooded robe, he wore blue. And in case you are wondering why this matters, or why we should care, if you cannot understand the anger in the black community even as you refuse to condone the carnage, remember the words of Jacob Frey whose reaction stands in stark contrast to the judgments of our current president:
“What we've seen over the last two days ... is the result of so much built-up anger and sadness. Anger and sadness that has been ingrained in our black community, not just because of five minutes of horror, but 400 years.”
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey
Reacting to the destruction of his third precinct building, he noted that a building is not worth the loss of one life.
GIVING LICENSE TO KILL
The anger in the black community grows in direct proportion to the indifference of a nation that refuses to confront its demons. On May 22, in Glynn County, Georgia, a 25-year-old black man was out for a jog. He was accosted by two white men, one a retired police officer, and was shot to death because he stopped to look at a home under construction. The murderers acted under the cover of law by first calling 911 to suggest a crime was being committed. Then, like the hooded vigilantes before them, they hunted their prey. There was no crime, no reason for the altercation. The only explanation that makes any sense is that Ahmaud Arbery was black and his assailants were white. In what world would anyone expect there not to be anger and fear among those in the black community? In what world would we expect a national leader to choose to inflame the situation with tweets thumbed from the safety of the White House advocating the shooting of more young black men?
Mark this moment in time as we are witnessing 21st-century lynchings in a nation whose leadership seems willing to purchase the rope.
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