We’ve been told that video of heinous acts perpetrated against Black people by police does not reflect the full story, that somehow what our eyes see, is to be questioned.
We saw video of the brutal beating of Rodney King, and we saw the video of Eric Garner saying, “I can’t breathe,” yet we are told video of police brutality is to be doubted, that there is a level of incertitude surrounding what we see, and for Black people, what we experience.
We are told to wait – to not trust what we see – to allow videos of police brutalizing Black people to be further examined, because there are two sides to every story. Horrific videos of Black people being gunned down, beaten, or choked by police cannot be normalized – they’ll look for any “reason” as to why there’s no conviction.
We are several days into the trial of the police officer who killed George Floyd, and the video we all saw cannot be spun to cast doubt on what the world witnessed – a man was murdered by police as he begged for his life. George Floyd was killed while a small group of concerned folks pleaded for officers to display some humanity, some decency, some professionalism in their “handling” of George Floyd.
We did not see humanity, decency, or professionalism. We saw a police officer with his hands in his pockets, kneel on the neck of George Floyd for 9 minutes and 29 seconds, while other police officers did nothing to protect and serve George Floyd.
We saw the murder of George Floyd.
We are more than a week into the trail, testimony from eye witnesses has included a brave 17 year old girl, a 9 year old child, medical experts, a 911 operator, a paramedic, a firefighter, and police officers, all of whom attest to what we saw – the odious murder of George Floyd.
We will see if justice is served or sidelined. We will see if America will begin to acknowledge, atone, and be accountable, or continue to aid and abet systematic racism. We will see.