I Love George Floyd
(so do you)
We can’t stand it, can we?
The deaths of blacks
The killers, whites
There was peaceful protest
Look here and there,
It’s still there
Can you imagine the press on
Minneapolis and Washington
From a peaceful surge of
Millions?
But we can’t trust the
Leadership and institutions,
Which is why the world
Was set on fire
Before
Who are the thugs? we wonder
Who wants real change?
Who simply wants to burn things down,
If not on assignment?
Who is hungry?
Who has no shelter for the night
Or year
Or lifetime?
There is an ad for an N95-looking mask
In designer colors and the words
Below in red, “ONLY $9.95” with an
Exclamation point
“We the people,” the governor says
Well, he’s on to something
This is where we live,
Where we want to live
An equality of opportunity,
Who would object?
Some would but not those in need
For having less
Or nothing
And having what there was
Taken away
Destruction promises nothing
But less to have, to use
Maybe to share
After the fires, will there be change?
Those who burn will probably
Want to burn again
It becomes a lifestyle
Though addictions can be counseled
And people change, anyway
But what do I know
I never burned down anything
I doubt you have, either
And if you have, you might have
A reason you can speak to
Though I’d still say
You shouldn’t have done it
But I’m not large enough
My force isn’t large enough
Or my head, my heart to understand
Such things
Such saints will have to be brought on
Who understand
The need
The hurt
The rage
Maybe the opportunity that comes
In masks
And months-long lockdown
I’m not trying to be clever
I think you know I have to say this
But he died
And we are left alive
Justice is in heaven
It can’t live there, alone
C L Couch
by Lorie Shaull from Saint Paul, United States – an “Our Hearts Break” sign along 38th St in Minneapolis on Wednesday, after the death of George Floyd on Monday night in Minneapolis, Minnesota, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=90742474
clcouch123 
May 31, 2020 at 5:05 pm
There is no justification for the horrendous killing of George Floyd by a demented cop. There is no justification for the horrendous rioting, looting and burning of America by a demented mob. I don’t see this as a black and white issue. In all cases of passion, when reason is left behind, there are many shades of colour. The most popular shade in the needless death of George Floyd and the frenzy that followed was red. I hear you, Christopher, it’s all so senseless, when reason goes out the window.
May 31, 2020 at 7:28 pm
Yes, when we lose reason, I get worried, if not frightened. And all the destruction, starting with his death and now in all the reactions. Thank you, Len, for your affirmation.
May 31, 2020 at 6:44 pm
A man killed a man. When we bring colour in, all get blind, not colour blind, to the consequences of their actions. #RIP George, victims and fallen of the riots, and #RIP to those who will die from seeing their livelihood in flames. Justice on Earth indeed is complex Christopher.
May 31, 2020 at 7:34 pm
You say it just right, thank you. Race should be an asset in the world, not something that makes us blind to consequences. Everyone is losing. I hope there’s justice. I also hope that the violent return to rebuild what was destroyed.
May 31, 2020 at 8:21 pm
Burning down your own (poor) neighbourhood, the cars your (poor) neighbours need to get to work, the schools your little brothers and sisters attend, is not logical. Looting supermarkets is pointless too. Unless you’re driven by hunger, but these people aren’t.
The problem here is huge and tentacular. In 150 years the greatest nation in the world (apparently) has been unable to forgive the blacks for being slaves, and no administration has ever tackled the underlying problem of endemic racism. Obama didn’t either. It’s become part of the system, a part it’s too difficult to remove without some other bits falling off too. Rampant liberal capitalism has no pity for the underdog, and that’s the problem. There are rich blacks too but you won’t find them on the protest marches. Wealth is the great leveller.
RIP George Floyd, and the millions like you around the world.
May 31, 2020 at 8:45 pm
We believe blacks are inferior. They’re not, but secretly and publicly we think and practice that they are. We think Native Americans are inferior, too, though we’ve got them mostly contained. Slowly, we allowed blacks to serve in war, to have concurrent jobs, to run for office, to serve as judges. Women are behind in these. You’re right (as you are about the rest), wealth is the leveler. The wealthy, once wealthy, may begin falling out of touch. How we let them get wealthy, I don’t know. I’m sure we tried to keep it from happening.
Frankenstein created life and then hated the life he made. Mary Shelley was on to something. So are you. White people made slaves then hated the lives they made. I’m not sure how whites say it was not our fault, we’ve done so much for them, since. But we do. I’d like to think about what might have happened if the African slave trade hadn’t happened. But then there are the Native Americans and the way we treated and treat Asians and Asian-Americans. Whites are no good with other colors. I learned about the melting pot and frankly see it happening, anyway. (Don’t tell certain people.) Latinx will have something to say and more importantly to do about that. And those from the subcontinent who are persisting here.
As for destruction in cities and neighborhoods, everyone complicit is wrong. No cause is being served. The only ones winning are those who steal and get away with it. And the virtuous who are amazingly constant and considerate in the midst of it all.
This nation might get better in spite of itself. Maybe unbeknownst to itself, it will have to get smaller, too, at least in the head. As in deflated. Manifest destiny is now (largely) taught to children as an anachronism, thank goodness.
Thank you, Jane, for your wisdom and your sight.
June 1, 2020 at 7:16 pm
The slave trade was a triangle, Africa, Europe, America, and in Africa, slaves were bought and sold by Africans. They thought nothing of it. Slavery was current in Africa and the east, and still is in many parts. But the slave trade and slavery was abolished by Europeans long before it was abolished in America. The French Revolution freed the slaves in the French colonies. Sure, Napoleon reenslaved them, and we got the monarchy back too. But it was campaigners in England particularly who got the trade abolished.
Maybe the problem has been because the slaves didn’t go away once they were released, couldn’t, and the old slave owners were allowed to keep their nasty attitudes. It’s a very particular situation. The Europeans were able to step back from it, leave their freed slaves in the West Indies.
There doesn’t seem to have ever been a time though when there haven’t been ‘decent’ Americans and ‘unacceptable’ Americans. First the Native tribes, then the Irish, the southern Europeans, the Jews, the Chinese; all with immigration quotas when Protestant English, Scots, Northern Irish, Scandinavians had no quotas at all. The the war when Jewish refugees from Nazism weren’t allowed in. Not very illustrious. Those huddled masses. I wonder who they were and where they went?
It isn’t that it’s any better necessarily anywhere else, but no other country brags about being the greatest nation on earth, few are as rich, few believe so unshakably in their own mythmaking. You have the resources to be great but not the leadership or much real motivation. People are at base selfish, so it doesn’t surprise me when the discourse is all about ‘freedom’ and no state intervention, that the unpleasant side of ‘personal freedoms’ rises to the top.
I don’t know that I’m wise, désabusée is what we say.
June 2, 2020 at 9:55 pm
I think you’re wise. And it’s true, of course, that once slaves were freed they had nowhere new to go. Except Liberia, I guess, though I don’t know little about how Liberians assess their own experiment and nation. And you’re right about so many waves of immigrants who are now established but who were treated abominably for being their kind when they arrived. My mother’s Irish family could attest to that. I grew up in Pittsburgh where many of these groups came. It’s a favorite liking of mine that Pittsburgh is made up of so many backgrounds, though it hasn’t and it doesn’t always go well at all, as the recent slayings in a synagogue would tragically attest. And, yes, it would be better if we didn’t brag so much. I know who the public braggarts are, though I know few (to none) personally, which I guess reflects my bias. The folk I know and hope I know are too busy living other ways and attributes, not fretting over who is first and it doesn’t have to be us.
June 1, 2020 at 7:26 am
So, I don’t believe any race should be doing anything for any race, because that’s what accentuates racism. In fact, black Americans should be thanking the Western Civilisations and Christianity, because they have a better life and better opportunities than ANY blacks anywhere in the world, and only blacks in Western civilisations live in places where slavery is illegal.
Slavery is a terrible thing, and I really wish that African countries, the Arab world and the rest of Asia could become as tough on it as in the USA, because our kids live that real risk everyday, and our family members are being trafficked through Libya as we speak.
And for me it’s equally racist to blame all whites for the evil of a few. You can’t lump in those who abolished with those who fought for the status quo. It’s getting out of these generalisations, and forgiving each other that will lead to any progress in the black, native, latino, white etc communities. Realising that not every white is trying to kill you, but that there are people of every race, even yours, trying to kill you. So your caution should be to all races, and your love to all races.
Once you forgive the other, you can actually start seeing who is offering you a helping hand. There are opportunities out there, but if your vision is clogged with hate, you miss them. Look at the current situation; one man killed another, and hate has led to too much destruction. The system has charged the criminal faster than ever in your history, yet people are losing their livelihood in the name of justice….black businesses for that matter, as if by owning a business they knelt on his neck too.
Let’s focus on education. Scholarships given to those who merit them. Meritocracy and education are what fix every injustice. If the standards for police recruitment are raised even higher, you’ll see less of these incidents, because arrests will happen faster without needing 4 people on one man’s back! It would be one cop handling the suspect with total dominance. Education, meritocracy: not quotas. Quotas look nice, but more innocent people will die because of incompetence or malevolence enabled by incompetence.
June 1, 2020 at 9:22 pm
Hi Nyonglema: I agree 100% that blaming all whites for the actions of a few is a form of racism in itself. Blaming any race for the action of a few is misguided. We should all be judged as individuals.
June 2, 2020 at 9:43 pm
I’m tearing up as I read your words. So correct, so wise.
June 5, 2020 at 11:38 am
You covered everything and I know these things have to be said. Some day all this will end and hopefully a leader will appear who will right the wrong.
June 5, 2020 at 5:47 pm
You’re right, we need new and certainly better leadership. Thank you.