Everyone has a story to tell and a life as important as yours. We all have something to offer and his story may help you and those around you.
May 25, Monday, 8pm
“I can’t breathe!,” exclaimed George Floyd as he lied on the asphalt road of Minneapolis. His head was turned towards a black rubber wheel of one of the officer’s vehicles.
George struggled to get a hold of air. “You’re going to kill me, man,” he said as he pushed himself to breathe as much as he can.
Despite these words, Officer Chauvin, a white police officer continued to heavily pin his knee on George’s neck. “Then stop talking, stop yelling. It takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk,” the officer replied.
“Can’t believe this, man. Mom, love you. Love you. Tell my kids I love them.”
Moments before, George drove to Cup Foods along with his close friend of 21 years, Maurice Hall. George stepped out from his blue SUV and crossed the street towards this convenience store just like how he would at every week.
The shop looked ordinary. He pushed the door’s black crash bar into a small area and another to the store itself. Upon entering, there was a row of long tables and black round turnable chairs on one side and a line of goods on shelves. Rectangular wood planks covered the ceiling. It leaves more than enough space for lights to go through.
George walked to the boxes of cigarettes and grabbed one of them before heading to the cash register. He was greeted by a teenage employee, paid a $20 bill and casually proceeded to the exit. The employee inserted the bill into the money counter machine sitting on top of a green cabinet beside him. He was taken by surprise when it alerted him of a counterfeit. Not knowing what to do, he followed shop protocols and informed the police of the ongoing crime.
May 26, Tuesday
The following day, news on George’s death immediately spread out. Friends and acquaintances relieved their precious memories of him and spoke out to the media.
According to Mahmoud Abumayyaleh, the owner of Cup Foods, he was a regular customer that shopped at least once a week. “I had known to be extremely friendly, kind, caring, very jovial all the time,” he said.
“I will beat my hammer on the desk. Then everybody will be quiet,” eight-year old George Floyd wrote as he dreamt of being a supreme court justice in second grade. He did beat his hammer as millions of people took protests to the streets and the internet amidst the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic because of his tragic death in the hands of police officials.
What’s wrong?
The shop clerk thought that he tried to deceive him with the $20 counterfeit bill and called the cops. When in fact, George might not even know that he was committing a crime.
Fake money is very common in the United States of America (USA). According to a secret task force in charge of investigating counterfeit bills, there are about more than ten million in circulation. A lot of these bills are of high quality. Just by looking at it, we couldn’t tell the difference between the fake and real one.
Also, the police turned to violence despite Floyd being obedient. As Floyd was arrested and pulled out of the car, “he was just trying to diffuse the situation as best, as humbly, that he could,” Hall said. Floyd was willing to cooperate with the police.
The officer on the other hand, decided to approach him in a negative manner. Their actions startled Floyd. After stepping out of the car, he was led to the sidewalk and events continued to escalate.
The Movement
Black Lives Matter is a movement that started on the internet by three black women: Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi. They wanted to stand up against police violence.
Back then, they were only fighting to get the people to use #BlackLivesMatter. About seven years ago, she wrote the hashtag in a Facebook post. An unarmed black teenager’s death ignited it a year after on July 13, 2013.
Today, this series of protests that surfaced a few months ago is far one of the largest in American history, with more than 26 million people who participated. Most of these protests were unplanned.
Breonna Taylor - March 13
During the last week of March, police forced their way in an apartment unit in Louisville, Kentucky. They were only executing a no-knock warrant permitted by the court judge.
Breonna Taylor, a 26-year old African-American emergency medical technician, and her boyfriend Kenneth Walker were alarmed by the forceful banging on their door. It was already after midnight. To defend themselves, Walker fired a shot at the police. In return, they decided to shoot. Taylor got hit and struggled to breath for five minutes. No medical attention was given even after 15 minutes. She sadly passed away after being shot with at least eight bullets.
There was an active investigation of drug pushers and police said that the unit was used to accept parcels. They are knowledgeable of where the two pushers distribute the illegal substances. And yet, they pushed through the search.
The three officers, Brett Hankison, Jon Mattingly and Myles Cosgrove, identified themselves despite the no-knock warrant. They also knocked on the door several times. The police’s incident report had a number of inaccuracies.
According to their report, they didn’t force their way in but used a tool to open the door. The report also wrote that there were “no” injuries inflicted on Taylor.
They “proceeded to spray gunfire into the residence with a total disregard for the value of human life,” wrote Tamika Palmer, Taylor’s mother in a wrongful-death lawsuit.
Many more innocent people are killed in the USA. Although we are not directly involved in these cases, we still have responsibility to bear. And that is to learn and reflect on the events.
Racial discrimination, discrimination itself or any form of disrespect happens in many different ways. We may not notice it, but it is common even in our country. These things do not bring any good. It can only bring a person or even a country down.
Each word and action all means something to others and may differ depending on our intention. There are others that mean the same in any way even if it is not directed at a person. It reveals more of our true selves and what we stand for. Saying these words or doing these actions may be fine for you but is actually not.
Story by Jasmine Ngo
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