It has been three weeks, and I still can’t clear the image of a blue knee squeezing the breath out of George Floyd.
I wish I could put what happened to Floyd in a box labeled “isolated incident.” But that’s not possible because Floyd’s death is a dot in an unbroken line of similar incidents.
We’ve reached the point where we need to set aside tortured explanations that seek to absolve police. We must acknowledge the obvious — some cops treat African Americans much worse than white people.
From the horrifying flashpoint of Floyd’s killing came weeks of cops punching, gassing and shooting peaceful protesters and journalists. Then, on Friday night, a white Atlanta police officer shot and killed a Black man in a Wendy’s parking lot after an altercation. It took less than 48 hours for the wildfire of racism allegations to spread, for Atlanta’s mayor to fire the officer,for the police chief to resign, and for an angry mob to seek vindication by burning the hamburger restaurant to the ground.
