She explained that George Floyd, the black man who was killed by the Minneapolis police last month, was “neither a martyr or a hero.” She’s gotten nearly six million hits since June 4.
Candace tells us that Floyd has a criminal record with multiple convictions. Instead, we should be lifting up David Dorn, the 77-year-old unarmed black retired grandfather of 10. He was a retired “St. Louis Police captain killed after responding to a pawnshop alarm during looting.” And it is a terrible story.
I knew that when an electronic family gathering came up – one I frankly ducked after the previous one – Dorn’s name would come up. “It’s too bad [Dorn’s] death is not more prominent.” Instead, a guy who took drugs is the one we are asked to “say his name.”
So why does George Floyd reflect the zeitgeist, besides the fact that we saw him die by a callous cop? According to this article in Business Insider, it was a combination of “pent-up anxiety” and “the actions of the president and law enforcement across the country [that] have created an outrage multiplier that has mobilized participants.”
Viva la Resistance!
Shockingly, to my mind, this has been a “diversifying movement.” There are a whole lot more white people out there demonstrating, and not just in the United States but all over the world. OK, not in Antarctica, but everywhere else. The progressive movement is fired up, optimally in a supporting role.
People, a fair number of them, have checked in to see how I am. Some I know IRL. Others I’ve known for years from online contacts, such as Amy, Melanie and Greg, and Jaquandor, who quotes me in a post. Also one guy I barely know online, which kind of creeped me out.
I’m reasonably fine, though it’s really difficult to keep up with the changing landscape. I’ve never had to rewrite what I’ve prepared here in my life. NASCAR’s getting rid of the Confederate flag? That’s great, of course, but it’s like Oktoberfest without beer.
Still, there’s this line from the movie Malcolm X (1992) that keeps popping up in my head. “We didn’t land on Plymouth Rock. Plymouth Rock landed on us!” It’s not quite what Malcolm actually said, but the film dialogue is better, I think.
Naturally, IMPOTUS is restarting his rallies. His first one after the BLM demonstrations is on Juneteenth. In Tulsa. It sounds like Stephen Miller’s fingerprints are all over this.
I pointed out Candace earlier. Now here’s Kimberly, a black woman, whose video has lesser production values, and about 3000 hits. She’s also quite intelligent, but eventually loud, and vulgar. You might recognize her from the end of John Oliver’s piece on the police. If you want to hear more from her – and you should because it’s far more a reflection of my feelings – go HERE.
Crazy times. Anyhow, if you are interested, that Malcom X line is a take off on a line in the Cole Porter song “Anything Goes”.