A white police officer murdered unarmed George Floyd in Minneapolis four years ago tomorrow, May 25, 2020.
The murder of Mr. Floyd broadened the Movement for Black Lives to a global reckoning, another cycle of history repeating itself over more than 400 years. In February 1965, 26-year-old Jimmie Lee Jackson was part of a protest in Marion, Alabama, against the arrest of a local civil rights activist. An Alabama state trooper shot Jackson, who was shielding his mother from attacks. The killing of Jimmie Lee Jackson was the spark that led to the march from Selma to Montgomery, said the late Congressman John Lewis.
Like Jimmie Lee Jackson, George Floyd forever changed the world. His sacrifice shifted our nation’s – and the world’s – consciousness on race. But we have far to go to transform that consciousness so that there is no turning back to status quo ante thinking.
An editorial today in The Los Angeles Times described our country as one “in the midst of a backlash movement that is trying to rewrite the narrative, the legacy and even the facts of the killing.”
“The ongoing battle between the George Floyd reckoning and the anti-reckoning blowback is a battle over the role of truth in our society and its institutions. But if we believe facts are real, and independent from ideology and political power, we must acknowledge that what happened to Floyd was real, horrid and unjust. And that it wasn’t a one-off, but an example of a flaw in our criminal justice system that must be remedied.”
There was a lot of movement and promises made following Mr. Floyd’s murder, but it appears that we are still in much the same place. So many elements of our democracy are still falling apart. Black people are still being killed. Election deniers are winning elections. Equity is on the chopping block, books that encourage critical thought are being banned and The Supreme Court radical right is a “mockery of their obligation to at least appear neutral and independent.”
Congressman Lewis said: “Ordinary people with extraordinary vision can redeem the soul of America by getting in what I call good trouble, necessary trouble. Voting and participating in the democratic process are key. The vote is the most powerful nonviolent change agent you have in a democratic society. You must use it because it is not guaranteed. You can lose it.”
EJS is making “good trouble” to galvanize transformation on many fronts, especially on reparations. We are co-leading the new Alliance for Reparations, Reconciliation, and Truth, a major force in the movement for reparations in California. EJS President Lisa Holder, a former member of the California Reparations Task Force, testified last month at the United Nations Permanent Forum on People of African Descent in Geneva, Switzerland. She was also part of an ABC7 documentary by Julian Glover – “California’s Case for Reparations.”
You can join us in advancing reparations in California. Please ask your organization to endorse the historic California Reparations Task Force report: https://supportreparations.org/endorsements.
We must fight on. We must remain engaged. We must embody the transformation we wish to see. We can’t give up. George Floyd is looking down on us from above.
EQUAL JUSTICE SOCIETY
Photo: George Floyd memorial in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Photo by Chad Davis, Flickr Creative Commons.