I may have been blinded with my discontent of the current state of things with my previous post.

In the past 24 hours:

Derek Chauvin who I deliberately did not refer to name in the last post has been charged with third degree murder, second degree manslaughter and first degree divorce.

This is miles ahead of the what occurs with the Eric Garner murder. While the grand jury decided not indict either Daniel Pantaleo or Justin Damico, Pantaleo was fired from the force in August of 2019— five years after the murder.

None of the other cops in Floyd’s death were charged with anything so far, but they were also immediately fired from the force. If it were up to me I’d say conspiracy to murder or obstruction of justice would be appropriate.

Chauvin abused his power and was swiftly dealt with, which is an outlier for most situations. Ahmed Aubreys assailants weren’t charged till months later after it became viral.

Police brutality is not solely an African American issue, but reminder, we are disproportionately pursued more than others. There is no quick solution to this as there are plenty of other factors in play here. We cannot change everyone’s beliefs, but having the force condem Chauvin’s murder of Floyd is a step in the right direction.

We cannot reset the institution, but we have the power to change it with the tools provided to us. The cops are not all evil and I hope this murder inspires current cops and future cops to fight against this injustice. I’m hoping the Minnesota Police Force will start a long term retraining program and the rest of the nation follows suit.

Protests occurred all over the nation, including my own city. Unfortunately, I did not attend— when word got back to me I was too far away to get there in time. I’m divided about what happened, I’m proud of the hundreds who did show to protest for George Floyd, against police brutality and against the establishment that is rooted in white supremacy.

And, while I do believe in the First Amendment and the right to exercise our freedom to assemble is more than justified in this situation. The destruction I condemn 100%.

I hope most of the protestors will continue the more positive aspects of this movement and place it where it counts. Not only to support the Floyd family, but to continue to support the systematic change that we all want to see.

Now is the time to support more local organizations especially those founded by African Americans and other minority communities. You don’t have to be a millionaire to do your part. Stumble into a minority owned restaurant you’ve never been to before, reach out to a friend and try to understand their anguish at the treatment of our kind, go viral through social media or like I’m doing with this blog. Do whatever you can to make it evident you are actually making a stand and we’re able to identify who’s who.

I still am an American and value most of the ideals our country was founded on, but not like this.

Till next time,

—MKH