The Horrific Death of George Floyd and Joe Biden's Offensive Statement

If you have turned on the news this week, or even taken a look at social media, it is a very good chance that you have heard about George Floyd's death, and Joe Biden's offensive statement towards Black people who support Trump. It seems that our world is becoming more and more desensitized, and racism is becoming a bigger issue. I think that we could even argue that not much has changed as far as racism from slavery. Think about it, the systems that dehumanized Black people during slavery, are the same systems that dehumanize them today, they just come in different forms. These forms could be seen by high incarceration rates of Black men, redlining Black people to keep them in certain living areas, Black people being killed and brutalized by White cops, and the list goes on and on. These incidents that are happening today are not to far off from what was happening in the past. The only difference is that society wants us to think we are all equal, because they do not put the term slavery on these issues, and they cannot force us to do free labor, unless you are in jail of course. Some of these clothing stores that we enjoy so much, are using cheap labor from prisoner to make huge prophets off of us the consumer. I think we can all agree that racism, dehumanization, inequality, and other issues that deal with race has just become a vicious cycle of corruption and hurt, but there is hope, because we have all been given a voice to speak, and give our concerns to these difficult topics.

I know the statement above was a lot to digest. You may be thinking that this world that we have all been born into is not that great. If you are a Black man reading this, you may even be thinking that society is against you. Whatever your thoughts may be in this moment is good, because it shows that you are thinking, which eventually leads to reflection, and then can hopefully lead to changed minds for the better. The first topic that I will be discussing today is on George Floyd. If you have kept up with the story or watched the video, it was very clear that the White cop that has his knee on his neck wanted to kill him. The witnesses that were there at this horrific scene begged the police officer to stop, but it was not any good. The police officer continued to keep his knee on his neck, even though the victim was not moving, was handcuffed, and was not fighting back. Injustices like this make you wonder, "Why do we have to keep witnessing deaths that did not need to happen?" There has been many incidents like this from Alton Sterling to Philando Castile. The only question now in my mind is, "When does the killing of Black men stop?" Unfortunately, the answer is unknown, because it continues to happen at such rapid speeds, but there is good news. The good news is that we can continue to fight the good fight. We can continue to use our voices, blog, become activist, get involved in organizations that deal with these topics, and most importantly hold these officers accountable, and see that they be put in jail for these horrendous acts. If we as a society, as a people, as a community cannot trust the people put in place that are supposed to protect us, then who can we trust? These feelings are the reason why so many people of color have created a borderline hate for police officers, and this only adds to more turmoil in our society, which is not helpful nor beneficial.

These topics on race and the Black community does not end here, because we have politicians that also let us down at times as well too. Recently, Joe Biden was speaking to a radio host when he stated the words, "If you have a problem figuring out if you support me or Trump, then you ain't Black!"There has been a lot of speculations as to what encouraged him to say what he said. Some people argue that he got too comfortable, and felt as though he had the Black vote, so why not just say what I feel. Others argue that because he was speaking to a Black radio host, he assumed it was a Black audience, and that we would agree with what he said, because he was just stating what Black people thought in their minds anyway. Whatever the reason was, it was not appropriate, and it could also been seen as a negative connotation to the Black community as well. If you have ever taken a class on Ebonics, then you know that the word "ain't" is usually always associated with Black people. If you have gone to school, or even partaken higher education, then you know that "ain't" is usually considered slang, not grammatically correct, and language that uneducated Black people use. These unfortunate stereotypes that are considered taboo in society, is the reason why Joe Biden's statement was all the more untasteful. With all of this in mind, I think that we as a society should hold Joe Biden accountable for his untasteful statements, and our president too. It is not okay for Trump to degrade people, and not respect and value certain people in America's society. People come from all over the world to obtain the American dream, but is the American dream obtainable to everyone, and if not, is our President's disgusting statements going to change people's minds about the issues happening in our society? That is a question that only each individual could answer on their own.

With issues happening like this in our society, it is important that we all acknowledge what is going on, and that we all play a part in helping uplift one another. If you see an injustice speak up, and if you are not comfortable speaking up, then help in a way that you know how. In order for change to happen, we need every race, ethnicity, and different cultural experiences to come together to unite. Just imagine what our world would be like if there was no division. It would be considered a utopia at this point, because American history is so gruesome and unfair, but despite these realities, it does not mean that we can't try to accomplish this goal in our lifetime. So continue to fight the good fight, and remember that change only happens when issues are exposed and demanded to be corrected.