When One of us Cannot Breathe, ALL of us Cannot Breathe: The Killing of George Floyd – Reigniting Racial Tensions and Police Brutality in the U.S.

Six years ago, the world watched as Eric Garner was stripped of his last breath for selling cigarettes without the proper authority in Staten Island, New York. “I can’t breathe” were the final words he managed to utter 12 times in an attempt to save his own life. However, that didn’t stir a white police officer into releasing his choke-hold on Garner. Said officer only got more empowered until he gradually suffocated Garner to death – again, for selling “loosies” on the street. 

Fast forward to 2020, the world witnessed a not too dissimilar occurrence of another Black man being wrongfully deprived of his right to live in Minneapolis. George Floyd, – a name that will now be etched in history as a prime example of modern-day lynching – 155 years post the abolishment of slavery in the U.S., was robbed of his fundamental right to life. Like Garner, Floyd was suffocated to death as a white police officer continuously pressed his knee into his neck, all while Floyd was handcuffed, laying faced down on the ground, simultaneously restrained by two other police officers. 

Perhaps the most painful moments to experience were Floyd crying out for his life, for his liberty, as the police officer continuously blocked his airway, depriving him of oxygen. “Please let me stand,” “I can’t breathe officer,” “My stomach hurts,” “My whole body hurts,” “Mama,” were some of Floyd’s final words. But, that didn’t as much as shake Derek Chauvin, the now arrested police officer/murderer, to releasing his compressed knee from Floyd’s neck. According to a New York Times report, Floyd stated that he could not breathe a total of 16 times. Chauvin’s knee was still pressed into Floyd’s neck when the EMS arrived on the scene, although Floyd was clearly still and unconscious at that point. That is how you kill a black man in this seemingly free world!

Bystanders could also be heard telling the police officers that Floyd’s nose was bleeding. Some were even heard begging Chauvin to stop kneeling into Floyd’s neck, since whatever his goal was, he had made his point. Chauvin had done enough. But like an utter cold-blooded murderer, Chauvin, hands in pockets, didn’t as much as budge. We see here where despicably punishing the black body has graduated from a choke-hold (incorporating the use of one’s hands) in 2014, to a knee-press in 2020, because that is what the Black man deserves. That is how you teach the Black man a lesson. 

But folks in Minneapolis and across the U.S. didn’t take this lying down. They saw and felt the injustice, and they sure called attention to it. There have been nights and days of riots and protests. Freeways have been blocked by human traffic, buildings have been set ablaze, vehicles have been smashed, and tear gas has been fired, once again igniting the tension between citizens and the criminal justice system. We do not condone any kind of violence or wrongdoing here at Creative Ajay, but it should be pretty obvious that we are tired. We are exhausted. We are disgusted. We are sick!

We beg for justice and dignity in the way that the Black man is treated. Our forefathers and civil rights leaders have fought too hard to know that this reality still exists for many African Americans today. Indeed, the more things have changed, the more they have stayed the same. Is this the progress that Martin Luther King fought for when he echoed the need for freedom in his “I Have a Dream” speech? King in his speech preached about changing the discords of our nation, that sadly, still exist today:

“With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.” (MLK).

What do we teach our young black men who have to witness these heinous acts of hate? Do we tell them to accept that this as normative, or do we fight fervidly to end this racist status quo? I honestly fear the kind of world that will be their reality. 

But I am optimistic to see that some of us are not sleeping, and have been incensed by this kind of injustice. If you choose to stay silent on issues like these bro, that’s a real shame. 

When one of us cannot breathe, ALL of us cannot breathe.