George Floyd Quotes

Ignorance does not make you fireproof when the world is burning.

Spring irises bloom. The caged bird no longer sings— the knee on his throat.

George Floyd’s pleas awakened this world that has been rendered comatose by fear of contagion and all of a sudden nothing mattered but justice.

Let our stand be together, shoulder to shoulder, hold hands with every human of every color, because together we rise and we shall stand with justice & power forever so we can breath in peace.

The New York Times estimates that between fifteen and twenty-six million people demonstrated over George Floyd’s death in the United States alone, making it the largest demonstration in the history of the country. Some researchers number the protestors at twenty-four million worldwide, which would make it the largest mass protest in history, period.

George Floyd’s death may have compelled you to post a black image on your social-media accounts but what it should really have done is made you question yourself and find within you those dark places where intolerance might be hiding for who among us can stand tall and proclaim that they have never been prejudiced towards a certain ethnicity, gender, colour or faith?

[Roger] Waters has suggested that empathy is the central theme of all the band[Pink Floyd]'s classic, mature works beginning with [the album] Meddle. Waters singles out the following lines from "Echoes": Strangers passing in the street / By chance two seperate glances meet / And I am you and what I see is me.

Karens have a best friend - Becky. She's the one who goes with them to talk to the manager and backs them up and remains silent when she calls the cops on black guys she sees in her area. Becky is Karen's tag-team partner and an enabler. Don't be a Becky.

Summer #28: 2020 What are we talking about in 2020? Kobe Bryant, Covid-19, social distancing, Zoom, TikTok, Navarro cheerleading, George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor, and… The presidential election. A country divided. Opinions on both sides. It’s everywhere: on the news, on the late-night shows, in the papers, online, online, online,

Having covered news stories for years, I’ve learned that the truth doesn’t stay hidden forever.

Having covered news stories for more than two decades, one of the things I’ve noticed is that overreactions and rash decisions are often signs of bigger problems.

Being skeptical is a good thing. It’s necessary for civility, democracy, and a free and mindful press.

We’ve heard the prosecution. We’ve heard the defense. We’ve heard the instructions to the jury and their verdict. But that doesn’t mean we’ve actually heard the truth.

My mama told me to be careful and not get into trouble. I got in trouble, but it was good trouble. John Lewis Dedication in Anarchist, Republican... Assassin

BLACK ISN'T JUST A HUE IT'S A HUEMAN

Fentanyl overdoses killed more adults between 18 and 45 in 2020 then cancer, motor vehicle accidents, COVID-19, suicide, and gun violence.

The police murder of George Floyd showed the world what police aggression and violence looks like.

At the same time, America is roiling and reverberating with a long-overdue racial reckoning. This reckoning began soon after the murder of George Floyd in May 2020, and it continues to unfold.

How many others have there been that you and I will never hear about? How many Black hearts were violently stopped between Emmett Till and George Floyd? Away from crowds and before cell phone cameras?

In the week between the death of George Floyd and the assault on the White House, at least twelve statues and memorials were defaced by vandals, including the World War II Memorial and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall.61 Even a statue of the nonviolent revolutionary Mahatma Gandhi in front of the Indian Embassy was vandalized by BLM protesters.62

Prejudice is not a symptom of stupidity. Nor is it a symptom of evil. It is merely a symptom of ignorance.

By June 2020, it was clear that it was going to be a once in a century historic year in the USA.

People will remember 2020 for a long time.

President Trump’s response to police violence was to encourage more police violence.

The news was progressing so rapidly in 2020 that I was having a hard time keeping up with it.

Racism is all over the world but the justice is nowhere

It is not only my heart that is heavy-laden, but the hearts and minds of so many who have been burdened by the tragedies, bloodshed, and woes of our time.

I regard President Trump as “America’s Terrorist’.

2020 was by far the most interesting year that I experienced in the USA.

By 2020 I regarded the USA government as an evil Nazi dictatorship.

Sis,” he said. “I don’t want to rule the world; I don’t want to run the world. I just want to touch the world.

Then, on May 25, 2020, Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin killed George Floyd by kneeling on his neck for nearly nine minutes. A bystander captured a video of Floyd’s death on her phone, and the visual demonstration of a white government officer casually murdering a Black American brought protesters in Minneapolis and then Los Angeles, Denver, Chicago, and New York City to the streets, insisting that “Black Lives Matter.

Just because you know me does not mean that I am not black. I am black. I am thankfully black. I am black just like the person you are hurling your insult at. On the way to them, it hits me. I'm Colin Kaepernick black. Protesting oppression black. Not-so-sure about the National Anthem black. Skeptical of the Pledge of Allegiance black. I'm George Floyd black. At times, leery of law enforcement black. Don't trust the system black. I'm not different. I am no exception.

Governor Walz ultimately blamed ‘outsiders’ for all the damage and destruction. He also blamed white supremacists and drug cartels. Walz may have been confused, since only 16% of those arrested during the riots had addresses outside of Minnesota.

In the midst of a national reckoning on race relations in America something extraordinary is happening. We are building a winning edge against divisiveness and racism by standing up for what is right and showing that we are braver and stronger together. 

The death of George Floyd has been used as a catalyst. It was the kind of “event” for which the aforesaid revolutionary formation (Black Lives Matter) was created. Now, Black Lives Matter has become a power in its own right. It is only the ignorance of the many, and the “fog of war,” that makes the casual observer dubious as to authorship of the present insurrection. For those who have not studied communist tactics, further shocks are in store. The existing political system failed to support the thin blue line, and that line is crumbling. The communists are winning.

When former officer Derek Chauvin answered my question about the most important thing he wanted to say to the world in this book, he offered just three words: “Follow the facts.” Even more telling, when former officer Thomas Lane was asked the same question, he said: “Just follow the misconceptions and the lies….

The official autopsy of George Floyd was conducted 12 hours after he died. Just to be clear, the autopsy was conducted before the rioting and the looting started. So, it’s difficult to ignore how someone could’ve spoken up about the preliminary findings and done something to help prevent the misperceptions and violence. However, the autopsy report wasn’t released until a week later. That is, the report wasn’t released until after all four officers were fired without due process, after former officer Derek Chauvin was arrested for third-degree, murder, and second-degree manslaughter, and block after block of Minneapolis was left in ruins.

We let it slide, turned our eyes inside-blind when you made our little sister cry burnt tears, blood, we let it slide when you held our brother by the throat until he choked out and died. We let it slide when we finally tried to make a sound but you had each other’s back and lied. We let it slide. Even now we let it slide.

I think we’ve nailed how to say what we don’t want, but we find it much harder to articulate what we do want—let alone how to achieve it. The protests and the organizing in the wake of the killing of George Floyd have shown us in no uncertain terms that a great thirst for change exists. But it’s not so much that there is too much to do, it’s more that we require a new, far more expansive, approach to understanding what we want to achieve and the steps necessary to take us there. As the scholar George Lipsitz cautions, “Good intentions and spontaneity are not adequate in the face of relentlessly oppressive and powerful well-financed military and economic political systems.”3

It's weird not being in our subculture of two any more. There was Jen's culture, her little habits and ways of doing things; the collection of stuff she'd already learnt she loved before we met me. Chorizo and Jonathan Franken and long walks and the Eagles (her dad). Seeing the Christmas lights. Taylor Swift, frying pans in the dishwasher, the works absolutely, arsewipe, heaven. Tracy Chapman and prawn jalfrezi and Muriel Spark and HP sauce in bacon sandwiches. And then there was my culture. Steve Martin and Aston Villa and New York and E.T. Chicken bhuna, strange-looking cats and always having squash or cans of soft drinks in the house. The Cure. Pink Floyd. Kanye West, friend eggs, ten hours' sleep, ketchup in bacon sandwiches. Never missing dental check-ups. Sister Sledge (my mum). Watching TV even if the weather is nice. Cadbury's Caramel. John and Paul and George and Ringo. And then we met and fell in love and we introduced each other to all of it, like children showing each other their favourite toys. The instinct never goes - look at my fire engine, look at my vinyl collection. Look at all these things I've chosen to represent who I am. It was fun to find out about each other's self-made cultures and make our own hybrid in the years of eating, watching, reading, listening, sleeping and living together. Our culture was tea drink from very large mugs. And looking forward to the Glastonbury ticket day and the new season of Game of Thrones and taking the piss out of ourselves for being just like everyone else. Our culture was over-tipping in restaurants because we both used to work in the service industry, salty popcorn at the cinema and afternoon naps. Side-by-side morning sex. Home-made Manhattans. Barmade Manhattans (much better). Otis Redding's "Cigarettes and Coffee" (our song). Discovering a new song we both loved and listening to it over and over again until we couldn't listen to it any more. Period dramas on a Sunday night. That one perfect vibrator that finished her off in seconds when we were in a rush. Gravy. David Hockney. Truffle crisps. Can you believe it? I still can't believe it. A smell indisputably reminiscent of bums. On a crisp. And yet we couldn't get enough of them together - stuffing them in our gobs, her hand on my chest, me trying not to get crumbs in her hair as we watched Sense and Sensibility (1995). But I'm not a member of that club anymore. No one is. It's been disbanded, dissolved, the domain is no longer valid. So what do I do with all its stuff? Where so I put it all? Where do I take all my new discoveries now I'm no longer a tribe of two? And if I start a new sub-genre of love with someone else, am I allowed to bring in all the things I loved from the last one? Or would that be weird? Why do I find this so hard?

Accepting the original findings of the autopsy would have destroyed the reputation of the left-wing media and it would have been a political nightmare. Everyone from Chief Arradondo to Mayor Frey, to Governor Walz to Senator Klobuchar, and even presidential candidate Joe Biden would have to admit they were wrong. Even worse, it would have only drawn more attention to their backward, “guilty-until-proven-innocent” rhetoric. Mob rule was everywhere.

I woke to the news you were dead. The what arrived before daylight; the how was agony unfolding as I dreaded my way to dusk. Unfolding against my want not to know (but I already knew, have known since I could know): officers, arrest, Black, man, twenty, video, knee, sir, back, dollar, 8, counterfeit, hands, sorry, 46, mama, please, breathe, please! Were you tired George? I feel tired sometimes. America on my neck--my lungs compressed so much they can't expand/contract--

On June 10, 2020, Chief Arradondo told the media: “History is being written now, and I’m determined to make sure we are in the right side of history”....According to practically every measure, Arradondo left the department and the city [of Minneapolis] in shambles. He claimed to be an agent of change and reform. He was hailed as a hero by community leaders and the media. Arradondo was basically given a free pass despite his catastrophic failures. In case anybody was wondering what side of history Arradondo was on, the facts speak for themselves.

WCCO isn’t every news station or media outlet in America. But there are so many stories that haven’t been told because the media and the Left have been pushing false narratives without any concern for the lives they destroy along the way. They provide a platform for those demanding accountability, yet they never hold themselves accountable. In this case, the media and the Left wrongfully accused four officers before any of the facts were known. They helped stir the outrage that left Minneapolis in ruins for reasons that hardly resemble the truth.

Keeping the police videos from the public and the press - along with Judge Cahill’s gag order, and his decisions and instructions about the body cam videos - allowed [Attorney General] Ellison and the prosecution to maintain control of the narrative. It might seem obvious now: without the police videos, there was nothing to compare to the viral Facebook video. Since there was no basis for comparison, the viral Facebook video - and freeze-frame screenshots that were used extensively by the media and the Left - were etched into the collective memory of just about everyone in America.

Chauvin’s trial seem like a game of 15 on 1. Counting himself, [Attorney General] Ellison had 15 attorneys working on behalf of the government in prosecuting Derek Chauvin. Who knows how many assistants they had, but they took up two floors of the Hennepin County Courthouse. All of them were working against defense attorney Eric Nelson, who was handling practically all the duties during the trial by himself. Of course, the media and the Left realized the defense was outnumbered. They were doing their part to downplay the number of prosecutors in the case. Nelson didn’t feel outnumbered per se, but he did say, “There’s no way the jury didn’t notice the difference.

The prosecution apparently also used other less-than-ethical and hardly professional tactics as well, including “hay stacking.” Hay stacking involves deliberately making it difficult for the other side to sort out documents and evidence - much like looking for a needle in a haystack. Along with delivering documents in disarray, another bratty move involves delivering evidence without giving the other side enough time to make sense of it. Like delivering piles of written evidence less than 30 minutes before court is scheduled to begin. On more than one occasion, Nelson was left scrambling to sort out hundreds, if not thousands of pages. Sure, things like this might happen occasionally. But [Attorney General] Ellison and his prosecution team were doing this repeatedly.

We saw so much suffering in 2020. George Floyd and his eight minutes and forty-six seconds of struggling to breathe. Ahmaud Arbery fighting for his life when he was just out for a jog. Are you willing to walk in those shoes? Are you willing to allow your children to? It's a life-altering moment when you talk to your children about what happens when there is a lack of compassion for people because of their skin color. It can feel like you are taking away their innocence... but it's also reality, and it will ensure that they work to change that reality.

In the wake of the May 25, 2020, murder of George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis, formerly colonized peoples and nations marched for justice around the world. They recognized the knee on Floyd’s neck as the same knee on theirs through the systems of colonization, enslavement, exploitative “apprenticeship” in the Caribbean, Jim Crow in the US, and apartheid in South Africa.

Over one thousand people have left our church since I called out [the White supremacy rally in] Charlottesville and reminded our people “only Jesus is supreme.” And by the way, I’m bold and stubborn but very loving, gentle, and measured with my words. Yet we “beat people up over race,” “White people are second-class citizens,” and “it’s all Pastor talks about.” Never mind one would be hard-pressed to find a staff more committed to the exaltation of Jesus and His Word. Sigh. And then George Floyd and the Chauvin trial. . . . Still more loss, anger, and cost. It is idolatry and sinister and sick.

The only reason the murder of George Floyd was not swept under the thin blue rug was because a citizen filmed his death.

Antifa is not an organized group. It is an ideology and a set of tactics, namely, violently confronting the right wing. Antifa is short for “anti-fascist.” The name is borrowed from World War II–era German anti-Nazi activism. Here in America, the antifa movement became an increasingly large feature of the political scene after Trump’s election. Alt-right groups like the Proud Boys also saw a surge in membership during this time. The two factions brawled in the streets at protests. They fed off each other. Trump and other Republicans spent the second half of 2020 criticizing violence and vandalism from antifa and Black Lives Matter activists during the civil rights demonstrations that erupted around the country after the police killing of George Floyd. Then January 6th took place.

By 2030, I expect the USA to be filled with statues of George Floyd and Colin Kaepernick.

The video of the killing of George Floyd has a lasting impact because we believed it, saw it as a faithful representation of what happened on the streets of Minneapolis that day, and because it was shared over and over again as if it were actually happening over and over again, which is of course a core part of its message. There is one George Floyd on video but many more who see the same fate away from the scrutiny of the lens.

The video of the killing of George Floyd has a lasting impact because we believed it, saw it as a faithful representation of what happened on the streets of Minneapolis that day, and because it was shared over and over again as if it were actually happening over and over again, which is of course a core part of its message.

an all-nighter or increasing heart rates to accomplish a strenuous physical challenge—they also strain the immune system. That’s why students get sick after finals week or athletes get so sore after big games. If those cortisol levels remain high over a prolonged period, as has been found in African Americans, the strain makes people more susceptible to sickness. These discoveries called into question the thinking that bad diets and a lack of exercise caused African Americans to have higher rates of hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease. It turned out that the stress of everything, from everyday slights to fears of a deadly interaction with the police, was altering human physiology.

Reporting corrupt police departments to internal affairs is not how police corruption research works. It has to all be done online and in public view. Think George Floyd.

Jesus was the original George Floyd.

Cops aired for thirty-two seasons and was canceled by Fox in the wake of the 2020 murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. For years prior, Cops had been criticized as evidence of an unholy alliance between law enforcement and media—the show was dependent on the police allowing TV crews to shadow their street work, which would only be allowed if the police were featured in a positive light. When public sentiment toward law enforcement collapsed, the very premise of a program delivered from that viewpoint was seen as irredeemable. There was, however, an ancillary aspect to Cops that played an underrated role in its watchability: the uniqueness of its geography. Cops was filmed in multiple cities across multiple states, and since the sole focus was on criminal activity, it ended up featuring neighborhoods and communities that would never appear on TV for any other reason. It’s possible to argue that Cops was a soft form of fascism, but that it was also an unorthodox form of tourism.

Despite rumors to the contrary, there’s no evidence that the police officer who killed black American George Floyd in May 2020, Derek Chauvin, learned his fatal knee-on-the-neck technique from training in Israel. Regardless, the IDF routinely uses this suffocating move on Palestinians. The aim of the police program, according to the ADL’s director of national law enforcement initiatives, David C. Friedman, was to build connections “between law enforcement agencies in two democracies.” The US police who went “come back and they are Zionists. They understand Israel and its security needs in ways a lot of audiences don’t.”24

You can have racially disparate effects without having racists,” Myers said. “But because [White lawmakers] believed that they were not racists and they were not bigots, no one was doing the analysis on race.

Instead of protecting George Floyd, these officers protected their fellow officer. Sadly, the same patterns of abuse in the George Floyd case are sometimes found in the church. While most pastors are gentle, kind, and patient, others have a proverbial knee on the neck of their sheep. They’ve been doing it for years with little or no consequences. And despite the pleas of the people, other pastors and elders sometimes stand by and let it happen. They may even defend the bully pastor. In sum, the problem is not just the abuse. It’s also the larger context that allows it to continue unchallenged.

The point of racism is to dehumanize those targeted by the racism. Violence as a reaction to injustice provides ammunition to racists.

The marchers have grown tired of dedicated action with no response. Fox News began by predicting that this would be the next “George Floyd phase” of American politics, but despite the ever-expanding demonstrations, a prevailing sense has already settled over the nation that not even mass slaughter will spur anything more than a few days’ outrage plus “thoughts and prayers” for the victims’ parents. What fools we are.

I’m very reluctant to accept that, Penn. I’ve never heard of any Bastard Sons of the Confederacy. And nothing like this has happened anywhere else in this country. You know? Why here? Why now?” “Mission Hill, obviously.” Doc curses under his breath. “That’s what people will say. But to me this feels more like the kind of thing those boogaloos were doing during the George Floyd marches, to discredit Black Lives Matter and gin up riots. Like the Nazis dressing up as Polish troops and destroying their own radio stations at the outset of World War II. Black folks are angry, sure, but they don’t want a war. Not a real one. We’re not fools.” “But if this is a false-flag attack, why pick a name like ‘The Bastard Sons of the Confederacy’? Why not just sign the note ‘Black Lives Matter’?

This is a George Floyd moment for both Israelis and Palestinians. Actually scratch that. It’s a George Floyd moment for both Americans who sympathize with Israel and Americans who sympathize with Palestinians. It’s a holy fuck moment for anyone who cares about human life. Upstairs the bathtub is filling with blood. How big would the swimming pool have to be to hold all the red salty stuff spilled the last week? Who will recline in the fresh blood bath? What swimmers will adjust their goggles and freestyle the miles of blood?

But he was a lawyer with a difference. He became a skilled lawyer but remained a good man. Here is a letter which sums him up: Springfield, Illinois 21 February 1856 To Mr. George P. Floyd, Quincy, Illinois Dear Sir, I have just received yours of 16th, with check on Flagg & Savage for twenty-five dollars. You must think I am a high-priced man. You are too liberal with your money. Fifteen dollars is enough for the job. I send you a receipt for fifteen dollars, and return to you a ten-dollar bill. Yours truly, A. Lincoln I would like this letter framed and hung on the partners’ desks of every law firm in the country.

As it happens, he and Raphael are both very much focused on the future. Raphael recently created a nonprofit network of successful Black men and women—some white, too—that he named the Lantern Network, after the lanterns people once used to indicate safe houses along the Underground Railroad. His goal is to provide a resource for talented Black professionals who lack the high-powered social networks white men take for granted—the family friends and relatives and neighbors one can turn to for mentorship, financial counsel, introductions, and access to capital. As of summer 2020, the future looked more promising. The COVID crisis had left economic inequality nowhere to hide. Then came the police lynching that broke the camel’s back. An exceedingly bitter election season contributed a third element to what was shaping up to be a perfect storm. The pandemic and “the high-resolution video of the George Floyd murder by someone who was confident that he would NOT be brought to justice” were the catalysts we needed, Raphael said in an email. Overt racism has crawled out of its hole these past four years, but “there are even more nonracists and a growing number of anti-racists who will actively engage in the fight.

At the height of the George Floyd protests, Omar Johnson, a former Apple marketing VP and chief marketing officer for Beats by Dr. Dre, took out a full-page ad in the New York Times. “Dear White corporate America,” he began,… I get it. I know you have the best intentions.… You want to do the right thing. But you just don’t know how. Is that about right? I know it is, because you’ve been calling me. For the past two weeks, several times a day. It’s been the same question: What can I do? He went on to upbraid corporate leaders for failing to nurture Black talent, for failing to include Black people in decision-making, for failing to listen, and ultimately, for failing as businesspeople: “This is a business problem, too. And you fix business problems all the time. So, you got this.” He laid out a game plan. Most notably, “You need to hire more Black people. Period.” Identify, recruit, develop, and elevate talented Black employees. Partner with Black-owned businesses. Believe in the people you hire. Mentor them. “No doubt, it’s daunting,” Johnson writes. “But lean into the discomfort.” And “before you call me again—before you ask me what you should say, or what you should change—I’ll tell you my answer right now: Absolutely everything… See you in the room.

That free time is one of the biggest barriers to activism was, in a way, proven in the summer of 2020, as the protests over George Floyd and the slew of other Black lives lost became the most attended protests in American history. Up to twenty-six million Americans participated, a number that would be unthinkable were it not for the converging COVID-19 epidemic and the unprecedented amount of free time that accompanied it.

we need to start reconsidering our sense of racial classifications. Namely, if we really believe that race is a fiction, we need to let racially indeterminate people make the case for that, by letting go of the idea that anyone with one peep of non-whiteness in them must “identify” as not white. We must ask why someone who doesn’t even appear black must “own” their blackness in the twenty-first century in the way Jefferson Davis and Bull Connor would have preferred them to. Who can’t see, on at least some level, the basic nonsensicality in this requirement—including that even what happened to George Floyd does not somehow justify it?

After the murder of George Floyd, more than 950 brands began posting black squares via social media. Intended to be symbols of online activism, most of these posts came with empty statements of solidarity and commitments where few followed through.

Still, in his dying seconds, as he suffocated under a White police officer’s knee, Floyd managed to speak his love. “Mama, I love you!” he screamed from the pavement, where his cries of “I can’t breathe” were met with an indifference as deadly as hate. “Reese, I love you!” he yelled, a reference to his friend Maurice Hall, who was with him when he was handcuffed that Memorial Day evening. “Tell my kids I love them!

When I grow up, I’m going to be somebody special,” Floyd sang along with his second-grade classmates in February 1982. “Somebody special is who I’m going to be.

I can’t go in a room like you, because of my size,” he replied. “People look at me and they’re nervous and scared. So I open up to them and let them know I’m okay. I’m a good person.

Growing up in America, you already have two strikes,” she told Floyd and his brothers. “And you’re going to have to work three times harder than everybody else if you want to make it in this world, because nobody is going to look out for you. You’re going to have to look out for yourself.

As an immigrant his mission had been simple. He was brought here by his parents to make money off what an important Jewish author had once termed "the American berserk." You came, they laughed at your accent on an urban playground, and then you were given your degrees and guided into battle. By which point, you were just a scab sent in to reinforce the established order. In the video, as the white policeman was draining the air from his Black victim's lungs with his knee, another cop, a Hmong immigrant, stood in front of him in a wide-open stance, daring anyone to come to the dying man's aid. He could have been a Russian, a Korean, a Gujarati. All of us, Senderovsky thought, are in service to an order that has long predated us. All of us have come to feast on this land of bondage. And all of us are useful and expendable in turn.

The news affected Senderovsky more than it did the others. He watched the video footage of the Midwestern murder-by-cop over and over while he was on the toilet locked in the upstairs bathroom. He memorized the scene. The ugly institutional shoes, the ugly institutional pants, the baton and flashlight and walkie-talkie, the upturned sunglasses worn high over the buzz cut, and beneath all that brute institutional force, a dying man crying out the last word that was likely also his first, those two repeating syllables, Ma and Ma. And then he was a man no more, but a lifeless slab hoisted on an institutional gurney, and there was static and instructions and dispatch codes. All of it perfectly commonplace, like an order for Gruyere cheese placed at the local market for curbside pickup.

Other cities, including New York, were turned into war zones too. In the first full month of post–George Floyd rallies and riots, the number of daylight shootings—a sign of brazen gang violence—more than tripled across the city.87 Between June 1 and June 30, there was a 130 percent increase in the number of shooting incidents, a 30 percent spike in murders, a 118 percent rise in burglaries, and a 51 percent increase in auto thefts.88 June was New York’s bloodiest month in a quarter of a century. The NYPD’s chief of department, Terence Monahan, blamed the trends largely on the fact that “the animosity towards police has been absolutely unbelievable.

I believe George Floyd picked the wrong state, ripe with discrimination and segregation, to start a new life. I wish he had chosen a different state with more diversity in the community and better representation in the police force.

Their hope was that, one day, lawmakers would understand that racist systems would not be dismantled with righteous words alone—the governor’s pessimism was a marker of privilege that they could not afford. They had to be optimistic that things could change; the alternative was far too bleak. For them, continuing the fight was not some glib turn of phrase. Optimism was their American hope, their defense mechanism, a way of survival.

Some people just want quiet. The price for peace is justice. Don’t just tell people to shut up and be quiet and keep suffering. Give them peace. Let them know the value of their life. Let them know the law works for them, and you won’t have to quiet them down. They’ll be glad about it. We want justice. No justice, no peace!

I was watching the news and I heard one of the commentators say, there were the Biden supporters having their celebration and then the Trump supporters having their protest … and they are conflicting, and they have the right to be here.    Not one time when we were marching for George Floyd did those people on the mainstream news say we had the right to be there.93

It is our duty to fight for our freedom! It is our duty to win! We will love and support one another! We have nothing to lose but our chains!

George Floyd is a name I shouldn’t know. Like so many names I shouldn’t know.

I read about Ahmaud, I said. I read about Breonna. I don’t say, but I thought it: I know their beloveds’ wail. I know their beloveds’ wail. I know their beloveds wander their pandemic rooms, pass through their sudden ghosts. I know their loss burns their beloveds’ throats like acid. Their families will speak, I thought. Ask for justice. And no one will answer, I thought. I know this story: Trayvon, Tamir, Sandra. Cuz, I said, I think you told me this story before. I think I wrote it.

He faces life in prison and the violent hostility of other prisoners. Jack Blair still believes love is the answer.

I can only imagine the envy with which Donald watched Derek Chauvin’s casual cruelty and monstrous indifference as he murdered George Floyd; hands in his pockets, his insouciant gaze aimed at the camera. I can only imagine that Donald wishes it had been his knee on Floyd’s neck.

George Floyd is a modern version of Jesus, a common man whose murder by the government sparked a global movement for a better world.

can only imagine the envy with which Donald watched Derek Chauvin’s casual cruelty and monstrous indifference as he murdered George Floyd; hands in his pockets, his insouciant gaze aimed at the camera. I can only imagine that Donald wishes it had been his knee on Floyd’s neck.

President Trump is a stain on the historical record.

While there have been many protests over the years against police brutality, the reality is nothing really changes.

I’m not a mother, but when George Floyd called out for his Mama, I heard him. May 25, 2020

President Trump is pouring gasoline onto the fire of George Floyd.

The spirit of George Floyd is alive and well.

After being harassed by a group of toxic police officers, I have always wondered how many others they were victimizing.

Every time I have complained about a police officer, it has been blatantly covered up.

It has been my experience that there are some really toxic police officers.

I regard police internal affairs as some of the most toxic people that I have encountered in life.