On Monday, May 25, George Floyd, in Minneapolis, Minnesota was assassinated by police officers. His death was recorded on video. His pleas for help captured by the audio. The smug look on the officer’s face as he pressed his knee on George’s neck forever imprinted in our minds. We as Americans have lost our ability to trust and believe in our law enforcement and to have faith that our elected leaders are operating with our best interests. While the COVID-19 death toll surpassed 100,000 lives, law enforcement was shooting tear gas canisters, a noxious gas known to cause respiratory issues at protesters demanding justice. Yet when armed men held a state capital hostage, the White House asked the governor to negotiate with the domestic terrorist. America has failed leadership. As a result we must look to the international community for support and guidance.
CBTU is joining in the call with the NAACP to ask the United Nations to intervene and label the historic and consistent abuse of Blacks in this country and specifically right now as a Human Rights Violation. History is repeating itself and we need the world stage to recognize this moment. When we ran off plantations, they sent the dogs after us. When we marched in Selma, they sicced dogs on us. And when we marched for justice for George Floyd in front of the White House, the racist occupant tweeted he follow the tradition of Bull Connor and sic vicious dogs on us again. History is repeating itself and we must acknowledge that this is plantation treatment.
But this is not a Black versus White issue. This is a Justice issue. It is a time when we the people need to take back control of our governing institutions. While we have seen images of police using excessive force, I have also seen officers marching side by side with protesters, taking a knee in solidarity, and hugging their community members in love and compassion. The institution of law enforcement has been militarized and weaponized. But the people behind the shield are still our brothers and sisters and cousins and friends. They are still our neighbors and many of them agree that this is a travesty. Many of them have broken their silence to correctly call the death of George Floyd a murder.
While looking to the world stage to call out this situation we must also take our peaceful protests in the streets to the ballot box. We must vote out the politicians who protect and empower racists. We must purge our government of white supremacists. Once again CBTU calls on the Congressional Black Caucus and all Legislators to re-implement Obama Era policies on law enforcement. We call on the Biden campaign to advocate and endorse the policies passed when he was Vice-President. And we call on the Justice Department to follow those standards and exceed expectations. We must never retreat from fight for the justice and freedom that our ancestors spilled their blood for.
The words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. sum up this moment best. “I think America must see that riots do not develop out of thin air. 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.”
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