The saddest thing about George Floyd’s death is that George Floyd is irrelevant to the story. Floyd is a human soul whom we have reduced to a statistic in order to serve our agenda. We claim to care about George Floyd but that’s not true. We care about using George Floyd to empower ourselves.
First, I need to acknowledge the dreadful, horrific, totally unacceptable death of George Floyd. My sympathies are with everyone who knew and loves him. The circumstances surrounding his death have overshadowed the sad truth that our fellow humans have lost a loved one. I did not know George Floyd. But I have lost people that I care about and I am sorry for what the people who knew him are experiencing right now.
Second, I refuse to allow the tragedy of George Floyd to further divide us. This tragedy is not about race. It is about systemic oppression and injustice. Those in power want me to believe the color of George Floyd’s skin is why he was killed. If they can keep me distracted with racism, I won’t notice George Floyd’s humanity. I’ll only notice he was black and I am white. That’s exactly what my oppressors want.
My oppressors are your oppressors. We are divided by design. The day we realize that we are on the same team, our oppressors lose their power. So they bombard us with lies like:
- “White people don’t care about injustice.”
- “Only black people are oppressed.”
Every sane person, no matter the color of their skin, opposes injustice. Every sane person, no matter their skin color, renounces brutality and murder. No sane person, of any race, would consent to what happened to George Floyd.
“White silence = White consent,” is a wretched lie that is told to keep us fighting with each other. It is to prevent us from identifying our enemies. We must be able to spot our true nemesis before they successfully convince us to destroy ourselves.
How To Spot The Bad Guys
Bad guys will blame the actions of individuals on large groups of people. When you hear someone say a church shooting was caused by the NRA or “2nd Amendment advocates”, that’s a bad guy talking. When you hear someone suggest that Jeffrey Epstein was “a typical Democrat,” that’s a bad guy talking.
Bad guys assign beliefs to others according to skin color. When you hear someone say white people don’t think black lives matter, that’s a bad guy talking. When someone suggests that if you don’t vote for Biden then, “You ain’t black,” that’s a bad guy talking. Anybody who says, “black people = criminals,” is a bad guy. Anybody who apologizes for the behavior of “white people,” is a bad guy.
Bad guys always tell you that you need them. Whenever someone tells you they “can say things you’re not allowed to say,” it’s a bad guy talking. The bad guys tell you that you will personally benefit when they are elected to office. The bad guys are telling you that they are the only trustworthy source of news and information.
The bad guys are telling you George Floyd was “a black man.” He was much more than that. He deserves all the respect, love, sympathy, and justice that is afforded every other person created in the image of God. He does not deserve to be a tool used to divide and oppress us. His family and friends are the only people legitimately suffering because of his death. All other public mourners are exploiting him.
I’m outraged by what happened to George Floyd because he is human being. Anyone who tries to steer my outrage in another direction, is manipulating me. That makes them bad guys, no matter what they call themselves.
6 Responses
You’re right, John. Any time you ascribe the actions of one to what you perceive as that person’s tribe, you have crossed a line. When you think you know my thoughts, my opinions or my motives because I’m a woman (or am short, or am white, or live in a particular area, or whatever), you have reduced me to your stereotype of that group.
So…people that ask to me seriously consider my complicity in the systemic oppression of black people (globally) are also the bad guys?
I get what you’re saying, that we can’t turn this into a thing were people have to take sides. But all you’ve done is point the finger at someone else so that you’re no longer the bad guy – the division is still there.
Maybe before we try unload the blame off ourselves, we need to take a moment to consider that maybe we could actually be the bad guys. No I didn’t kill George Floyd…but I’m sure that, on a daily basis through the systems I’m complicit with, I benefit off the back of people of colour.
As I said… I hope I understand that the point of this article is to prevent division between us… but it’s come across in a very ‘Don’t look at the plank in your neighbours eye – look at the plank in your OTHER neighbours eye’ kind of way.
There’s a difference between blame and pushing against a stereotype. This is a call to resist a vortex of simple thinking. We are all a lot more nuanced than we may take each other for, and like John said, reducing someone to merely one of his or her characteristics is one step closer to buying into an statement that is bred to devide people. Let there instead be division between those statements and the people. Let those people say with John, myself, and others, “to those who claim to know what I think, y’all don’t speak for me.”
I think we agree that it’s always a good idea to check for planks in your eye before you criticize other people.
We disagree that my skin color alone makes me complicit in any kind of oppression. Racists are the bad guys no matter what they look like.
Sanity in an election year – not allowed.
Amen. Thank you