May 25th, 2020.
The day the world met George Floyd is a day that will forever live in infamy.
In a macabre summer, Floyd, 46, died after being handcuffed and pinned to the ground by a police officer’s knee.
TOP 2 MOMENTS GEORGE FLOYD 2020!! pic.twitter.com/7wIZpRM7U4
— asnito 🥀 (@nootnootasno) December 24, 2020
The police officer, Derek Chauvin is White. George Floyd was Black.
The fatal encounter was captured on video ripping open the delicate seam in American race relations.
READ MORE: George Floyd’s Funeral Was An Energy Boost For Black America’s Exhausting Fight For Equality
The incident incited large protests against police brutality and systemic racism in Minneapolis. Then like a thread that kept unraveling, the protest movement grew to more than 150 American cities in the weeks and months that followed.
George Floyd Memorial. 📍Minneapolis MN pic.twitter.com/8B51tgQA6I
— M i l a n (@simplyymilann_) December 21, 2020
READ MORE: Foul Play Perverts Protests, But Don’t Lose Focus On Justice For George
Next the world picked up the banner and showed that globalization was also the case for racism.
The explosive footage, recorded by a citizen, was shared widely and the summer of 2020 will forever be remembered as the summer of global protest.
Sadly, more racially charged killings occurred both by police and White civilians in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd.
The names of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Elijah McCain, Rayshard Brooks and many more are now etched in the world’s collective mind.
READ MORE:Rayshard Brooks Was Trapped In A Criminal Justice System Rife With Injustice
haven’t forgotten & i’ll never forget.
Elijah McClain – 23
Breonna Taylor – 26
George Floyd – 46
Ahmaud Arbery – 25 pic.twitter.com/vVLwxDfpiV— jos NYE (@justlikeimagine) December 22, 2020
They are all reminders that the ghosts of imperialism and the vile economic engine of slavery that built America and sustained early global trade are still among us.
The police mentality is that of the paddy rollers – organized groups of armed white men who monitored and enforced discipline upon enslaved Afrikans in the antebellum U.S. southern states.
The sun sets to the west of George Floyd Square on the first day of Kwanzaa. Day 1 represents Umoja (Unity). The countdown to the trial was recently added to what was a Speedway sign. pic.twitter.com/N4Scj1bjVA
— daviss (@daviss) December 27, 2020
The slave patrols’ function was to police enslaved persons, especially those who escaped or were viewed as defiant. They also formed river patrols to prevent escape by boat.
Although the slave patrols were first established in South Carolina in 1704, the idea spread throughout the colonies, reinforcing a nefarious stigma towards Afrikan people.
They must be monitored and interrogated for a suspicious nature and if their presence is threatening, they can be justifiably eliminated.
It has been 215 days since George Floyd was killed. What have we corrected in our country since then?
— Sadler for Oklahoma 🗽 (@Sadleroksenate) December 26, 2020
What George Floyd’s death and the horrifying video showing his detainment, fear and pain did was remind the world that we are not in a post-racial society.
The baggage of imperialism has winnowed into a groupthink and it exposed the core of the American experiment, it was never created with Afrikans in mind.
If you are a Zambian and you stood up against the Police👮♂️ killing George Floyd in the USA, I expect you to stand up against the Police👮♂️ killing of ba Nsama and Joseph Kaunda in the morning here in Zambia💔💔💔 pic.twitter.com/Nw9plG4mgH
— Archie Mulunda (@MulundaArchie) December 23, 2020
For America, Afrikans born in America are a problem never resolved, sorted out or compensated for their tremendous contributions.
Instead, Afrikan people have been pushed into a corner, knee on their neck for the safety of the country and killed even as they tell the law that they cannot breathe.
Tamir Rice should be 18 and spending the holidays with his family.
Michael Brown should be 24 and spending the holidays with his family.
Breonna Taylor should be 27 and spending the holidays with her family.
George Floyd should be 47 and spending the holidays with his family.
— The Leadership Conference (@civilrightsorg) December 22, 2020
George Floyd never intended to influence the world. George Floyd never intended to lose his life. But George Floyd is the world’s martyr who inspired us all to act and eschew the veil of normalcy.
When we all erupted with the rebellious spirit that made America cede from Britain in the first place, it was to honor the memory of George Floyd.
He influenced every person on earth in 2020.
Lil Baby threw a surprise birthday party for George Floyd’s daughter Gianna and covered all of the expenses 🙏🖤 . God You Bless You #LilBaby pic.twitter.com/b85gWvB1Jx
— TseAddo Bi Adokwei (@gracious_wood) December 20, 2020
Like his 6-year old daughter, Gianna Floyd said to Floyd’s close friend and torchbearer, former NBA great Stephen Jackson, “daddy changed the world.”
Yes, Gianna, he certainly did.
