Photo Credit: Brenda Chambliss

My conscience obligates me to do this post. George Floyd an African American man in Minneapolis Minnesota lost his life to a now former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.

Chauvin a Caucasian male, while on duty was seen in a video recording with his knee placed on the neck of the handcuffed George Floyd for a reportedly 4-6 minutes until Floyd expired, officer Chauvin’s knee was still on the lifeless Floyd’s neck for an additional 2-3 minutes.

It was reported that Floyd called on his mother (who is deceased) before dying as he pleaded for mercy as he stated that he couldn’t breathe.

There has been outrage over this incident, several cities in America rising up in peaceful protest demonstrating their pain and anguish for the gruesome death in broad daylight of an American citizen.

I am not here to take political sides. I’m not here to make this a racial issue because if it is one, I couldn’t stop it from being one anyway. I’m not here to make Mr. Floyd a devil of a saint. I’m not here to do either of the same to Mr. Chauvin, however I’m not here to ignore the elephant in the room either.

There is a problem, a systemic problem in America, that makes the African American male in some places in this country an endangered species. This endangerment is on two fronts, neither will I address in detail in this post, as I have another aim here.

One critical threat is being killed by another race, the second, is being killed by his own kind also known as (Black on Black crime.)

Let me tell you as an African American man in this country, I have been in a similar position to George Floyd by ending up in police custody in the back of a police car.

In the mid eighties in a suburb of Chicago Illinois, after walking into a local department store to pay a bill, I made a phone call using a payphone just outside the store, a few feet away from the main entrance.

About a minute into my call, 3 police squad cars descended upon me, an officer jumped out of one of the cars and ordered me to drop the phone, and put my hands up against the wall and spread my legs apart. I obeyed the order. A man they believed who matched my description robbed a store at the other end of the parking lot at a completely different store.

I looked to my left over at the phone still dangling off the hook from the cord, wondering what was the person on the other line thinking as a result of my abrupt removal from the phone physically, and what they were hearing in the background. My next thought was; ‘man, I sure hope no one drives by from my Sunday School class seeing this, as I was being patted down by the officer.

I looked to my right and saw an officer approaching me who looked at me as he was walking up, shaking his head he uttered; “that’s not him.” The guy they were looking for was a black male (that was the term back then) around 5 foot 8 inches, I’m black 6 feet 2 inches. I was questioned and I told the officer, I had just left the department store from paying my bill, and was making a phone call.

Although one officer said that I didn’t match the description, nevertheless I was handcuffed placed in the backseat of a squad car taken to the other end of the parking lot where the large department store was robbed. While being parked out front and after what seemed like an eternity FINALLY, two gentlemen came out of the store, a Caucasian gentleman and an African American gentleman, they both looked in the backseat of the car at me, I saw both shake their heads no. The officer asked them if they were sure…they responded yes, they were sure, as though I was there for the taking if trying to find the robber was too much trouble.

I was taken back to my car, uncuffed and let go without apology. That ordeal shook me up. I’ll NEVER forget that day, being innocent and detained as a suspect, humiliated as a human, mortified as a man.

While I appreciate your patience, that’s not what I wanted to broach in this post.

Since the death of George Floyd, there have been peaceful protesters, demonstrating and utilizing their right to peacefully assemble and protest their grievances. Many of them angry, upset over what they felt was the wrongful death of George Floyd while in the custody of the Minneapolis Police department particularly one of their own officers who committed murder in cold blood with a badge.

In my May 13th post entitled “Revist Review Amend,” I raised the issue of the murder of another African American male Ahmaud Arbery, killed while jogging in Georgia last February with his murders being apprehended only a few short weeks ago.

Here’s my point in all this. Am I angry, you bet I am, especially when it becomes so easy to kill unarmed African American men without serious repercussions for the perpetrators.

This problem didn’t just start, it’s been going on for years, decades, and longer depending on who you ask, some caught on video, others unfortunately not.

In George Floyd’s death there are serious issues to be raised but there is an impediment to doing so when looters, infiltrate themselves with protestors. When the looters burn police cars, setting stores and businesses on fire, it smothers the true conversation and purpose, the villains are now culprits who in the name of George Floyd proclaim they are doing that in his memory… STOP IT!

There is nothing more sinister than criminals attaching themselves to a cause to besmirch the cause and sabotage it with criminal acts and violence, provoking police to incite more violence against citizens and peaceful protestors. This is wickedness at its core.

Not all African American men are a problem, troublemakers, lazy, void of handling responsibilities as advertised by some. On the flip side not all police officers are hateful evil killers haters of African American men.

What truly separates a person is not the color of their skin, not their job description, not their money, but the quality or grade of their heart.

So as for Derek Chauvin George Floyd’s killer with a badge. Under the badge was was uniform and under the uniform was “ white” skin… but none of the above was ever the problem, not any of these things killed George Floyd, but what was under the “white” skin which could be found under anyone’s skin. A cold, dark, miserable, hate filled, angry murderous heart. THAT’S the culprit, the HEART. That’s what motivates action or harnesses it. So if we are going to fix the society we need a heart transplant for people with evil heart problems.

A few days ago Derek Chauvin’s heart convinced him that he was God over George Floyd so he put his knee on his neck until the cocktail of hatred in his heart intoxicated him into taking the life God gave George Floyd, because whatever he did, whatever he said, or maybe just how he looked…in Chauvin’s heart and mind Floyd was worthy of death to him, it’s just that easy.

anablepsis.