I harbor no allusions as to what it would be like without the police, because like attorneys, like them or not, there will come a day when you need them. However, I personally feel that we simply don’t need so many of them. With the advent of camera phones, our society is now witnessing how the police have in fact been behaving for many years. I have never heard a cop say that they were in favor of wearing body cameras. They apparently don’t want anyone to see them in action, and when we do, we are shocked by their behavior. They say they need qualified immunity in order to effectively perform their jobs. In other words, they want to be a superior society that exists above the rest of us.
When Minneapolis policeman Derek Chauvin snuffed out the life of George Floyd on May 25, 2020 while defiantly glaring directly into the camera, I just couldn’t take it anymore, and I wasn’t alone. As usual, the authorities asked for time to basically figure out a way to get Chauvin and his three cronies off the hook. As usual, they told us not to rush to judgment even though these cops had certainly rushed to judgment concerning the value of Floyd’s life with a catastrophic outcome. The truth be told, if someone in any way impugns a cop’s “command presence” they are literally taking their lives’ in their own hands. The police expect more from those that they swear to protect and serve than they do from themselves.
I ordered a “Justice for George Floyd” tee shirt and an “I can’t breathe,” flag to fly. Both were hurriedly made and were thus cheaply constructed. The first time I decided to wash the tee shirt I made a conscious decision to not turn it inside out. I said to myself: Let’s see if George Floyd gets his justice before the words and his face wear off this shirt. I also decided to fly the flag until it became too torn and tattered to display its message.
It’s Election Day here in America. It has been six months since George Floyd was murdered, and concerning both, justice is in short supply. How can any American who claims to believe in democracy try to deny another American the right to vote? In short, that is about as un-American as it gets.
When I took my George Floyd tee shirt from the dryer today his face was gone, his name was gone, the quote, “I can‘t breathe,” was gone. The only thing that remained was the splotchy word “Justice,” that’s fading fast. The flag has diminished to two-thirds its original size and is frayed and tattered along its outside edge. I suspect that soon it will rip into pieces and get carried away with the wind. In Minneapolis, George Floyd’s memory still awaits some semblance of justice; or should I say tattered justice?
I sure hope my vote gets counted.
