The United States has certainly become the place where it’s all happening these days. Apart from having the highest number of Coronavirus cases in the world, their other virus has once-again reared its ugly head in a horrendous way. The other virus that I’m talking about is Racism. The very people that are supposed to protect the citizenry are the perpetrators of hate, discrimination, and murder. The “men in uniform” this time were the police.
George Floyd will be buried next to his mother in Houston today. May his soul rest peacefully. As people in the United States and other countries in the world protest against this injustice that was done to this man’s body, soul, and spirit, it’s a deeper mourning and grieving that’s going on here. The grief for Mr. Floyd is palpable but Americans and others are also grieving for all racial injustices, big and small, that have been done from the beginning of time to this very day.
This collective cry that BLACK LIVES MATTER is for people of colour and for all who are oppressed. As a member of a neighbouring country to the United States, we too have had our protests here against this heinous crime. We feel the pain, the grief, and the shame that one member of the human race could treat another with such hate, disdain, and disrespect. With due respect to all the decent, honourable white men and women out there who are kind to all peoples, please permit this one quote.“The white man’s happiness cannot be purchased by the black man’s misery.”
―
Frederick Douglass (above quote) was born a slave around 1817. After he escaped from slavery in Maryland, he went on to become active in the abolitionist movement. If he was born around 1817, that was 203 years ago when he said those words. It’s appalling that even after 200 years, a black person in the United States is killed for being black. Whose happiness did his life depend on?
Slavery was abolished in the U.S. with the ratification of the 13th Amendment in 1865. That was 155 years ago. How many hundreds of years will we need before we can be changed in our hearts to be civil, kind, and decent to another member of the human race, irregardless of colour? When will the birthright of all peoples be lived out in the United States of America? America is famous for its declarations and mottos. I had to take a look back because I knew there was something in there about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE (July 4/1776)
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
The motto of the United States is: “In God We Trust.” I’m just wondering how declarations and mottos can change hearts and minds. Can respect, decency, and goodwill be legislated? What do we as a people need to do within ourselves in order to prevent George Floyd’s death from happening again or from having been in vain?
These thoughts have come to me today as George’s body was put to rest. They’re just a way of me dealing with my own shock, grief, and disbelief at our human race and what we can do to each other. Some of Martin Luther King’s words came to me and I’ll end this post with those:
“In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.”
