George Floyd and 'a riot is the language of the unheard'

I would be remiss to not post about this. If only so that I can come back to this from the future and know if anything has changed.

In Minneapolis in the last week a police officer who had had already 17 complaints raised against him for abhorrent behaviour pressed his knee against the throat of George Floyd who had already been knocked to the ground, pinning him like this for nine minutes until he died. George called out, clearly: 'I can't breathe'. All of this was documented in film by people nearby.

I have not yet seen the video, the description itself is gruesome enough.

Joe Biden, the most likely democratic nomimee for the presidential race this fall delivered an impassioned speech to put a cease to the police brutality, the inequality and the racism. Of course, as part of an election, he villified the existing President for riling up the populace with sayings like 'you loot, we shoot'.

Peaceful protests have sprung up in dozens of cities across the US and many other cities globally. Those peaceful protests have been sidelined by rioting from some, and from pre-emptive police brutality as well. As one example of literally thousands, I did happen to see a video, I do not recall what city it was, an older black man was just standing, waiting for a bus, when the protest came near to where he was. Half a dozen police officers were pushing people away to have them disperse, and overzealously they knocked over this older man who had nothing to do with the protest, he was just waiting for the bus.

In one of the articles I read about this, a passage from a Martin Luther King speech was referenced, the quote is so very appropriate for these times. I thought it so telling that I reproduce it here:

Certain conditions continue to exist in our society, which must be condemned as vigorously as we condemn riots. But in the final analysis, a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it that America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the Negro poor has worsened over the last few years. It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice, equality and humanity. And so in a real sense our nation’s summers of riots are caused by our nation’s winters of delay. And as long as America postpones justice, we stand in the position of having these recurrences of violence and riots over and over again. Social justice and progress are the absolute guarantors of riot prevention.

So at this time, there is a pandemic still infecting thousands; and given the protests and riots, the infections will spread even further. For the black and brown people, and everyone supporting them, these civil peaceful protests raise the importance of social justice to a higher importance than the physical separation required by the infectious disease scientists. Something needs to be done.

So at this time, there is a climate crisis that affects black and brown people most severely, since red-lining has compelled them to live in places most prone to flooding, pollution, sea-level rise, forest fires and other storms. Not only is social justice required, but climate justice is required, and the two are linked.

On Sunday afternoon that just passed, there was a protest march in my city attended by ~10,000 people and social distancing was not observed, though photos of the event did show that most people were wearing masks. It was followed by rioting and looting which the reports I read indicated started only after the march had come to an end.

I heard an interview on the radio that there may be another march. I just searched to try to find information about the when and where and couldn't find anything, but if I do find out, I will see if I can join the march. I do not know what else I can do.

My thoughts and prayers are with the family of George Floyd, and more generally speaking, that both social justice and climate justice get addressed with an urgency never seen before.