George Floyd, an African-American man, died in Powderhorn, a neighborhood south of downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. While Floyd was handcuffed and lying face down on a city street during an arrest, Derek Chauvin, a white Minneapolis police officer, kept his knee on the right side of Floyd's neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds; 2 minutes and 53 seconds of which occurred after Floyd became unresponsive, according to the criminal complaint filed against Chauvin
On March 13, 2020, Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old African American woman, was fatally shot by Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) officers. Sergeant Jonathan Mattingly, Detective Brett Hankison, and Detective Myles Cosgrove entered her apartment in plainclothes in Louisville, Kentucky, while serving a "no-knock warrant".
On February 23, 2020,Ahmaud Marquez Arbery, an unarmed 25-year-old African-American man, was fatally shot near Brunswick in Glynn County, Georgia, while jogging on Holmes Road just before entering its intersection with Satilla Drive in the Satilla Shores neighborhood
Over 100,000 dead in a runaway pandemic
40 Million Unemployed
Demonstrations against racial injustice in American streets becoming co-opted by white supremacists resulting in looting and extreme widespread violence.
Biden's response fell flat.
On the Newshour with Judy Woodruff, Biden missed the mark last evening on the issue. He was invited not once but twice by Judy Woodruff, even coached, on how to come up with a 'plan' to address this nefarious issue of white supremacy in government and on the police forces nationwide and he struggled.
"Listen, we gotta stay on it Judy", yada yada, yada-- What does that mean Mr. Biden? A man who happens to be running for President of the United States? I think we agree what Eddie Glaude stated, is that until we install systemic change not waiting until those who are invested in a white America find themselves on the same level of ideology as we are, but beginning to put systems in place now, where those nationalist ideas have no quarter to breathe. What Biden needed to say is we need to hold police accountable, change the way police see black people, fight for fair access to education, housing etc, etc..until the ENTIRE playing field is indeed level. Real systemic change will evade us otherwise. The difference listening to Biden and Eddie Glaude (The chair of the Department of African American Studies at Princeton University and the author of 'Begin Again') was eye-opening. Yes, Eddie is an expert on the issue and a professor, however, Biden is running for president of this nation. Biden didn't sound restrained so as to frame his knowledge, he looked as though he lacked as much knowledge as the current administration's cabinet and that doesn't bode well for us. It's an absolute front running issue, he's gotta be educated on it.
It will take not just a president, but a iron cast VP, and one hell of a cabinet to take this nation on now. This nation is burning, this nation is dying, this nation is twisted up in its illnesses and dysfunction of old. One might ask if things are getting worse. Perhaps things are just getting filmed. Trump has made Americans feel now that there are those who cannot be stopped. Where many of us believe there must be some kind of evil assisting that administration, we are not a nation of Neros as Rome burns.
Americans will surprise you. That same fighting spirit was on United Airlines Flight 93 on September 11 when American citizens fought to the death to breach the cockpit and save that hijacked airliner, the lives onboard and on ground target. We need that spirit on November 3rd.