05/30/2020
Not our usual kind of social media post, but enough is enough and having to explain oppression and white supremacy to a 9 year old breaks my heart, but children are not colorblind and need us to teach them about the awesomeness of diversity before they pick up on stereotypes that are being thrown around by the media and misinformed people, because those are the breeding ground for prejudice.
"We can't breathe.
My brown throat,
your black throat.
Both suffocated by
our oppressors’ boot.
The oxygen molecules,
our lifeblood,
choked off from reaching
our hearts and brains.
Oppressors cloaked in the
fake authority of a uniform:
a coward's way to impose
your white rules,
your so-called superior DNA.
We can't breathe.
Even the air is not for free.
Our lungs are too “colored”
for their oxygen.
We can't breathe.
They want us to disappear
for the sake of their fragile egos.
Your so-called justice is exposed
by the democracy of the camera
in the middle of the street.
Our dignity is too strong
to be crushed."
Poem by from Gaza, dedicated to George Floyd.
Art by dedicated to George Floyd.
Imagine being pressed down onto concrete with a solid 200 lbs sitting directly on your neck. This man begged for his life. This grown man asked for his mom, for water, for mercy once he realized he was slowly being killed. His nose bled and he lost control of his bladder. Yet he remained trapped under the weight of the officer’s knee.
In handcuffs crying because he could not breathe. Onlookers tried to intervene only to be threatened with pepper spray. Then he lost consciousness. The weight of that knee stayed firm while a first responder demanded they check for a pulse. They refused. The weight stayed on his neck. Off duty medical personnel begged for the officer to get up.
We watched a man being killed. For 10 agonizing minutes. Imagine dying that way.
His name is George Floyd.
(thx for sharing this Jay Seltzer)
And please hold the comments about the looters, if you criticize them harder than the police officers committing murder, it’s telling. If you’re mad at them for looting chain stores owned by billion dollar corporations and not mad at the government looting you of the money you pay yearly in taxes and giving it to billion dollar corporations, you should take your fake outrage somewhere else, we don’t have room for that. And no, all this violence isn’t the answer and won’t bring back George Floyd, but bombing the Middle East (for 19 years now!) couldn’t reverse 9/11 either, and a lot of people seemed to be ok with that.
It’s about time white people stand up for racial justice everywhere, because if you’re not outraged you’re not paying attention.
Laurens Kusters
