George Floyd

George Floyd

I have been waiting to express my thoughts on the George Floyd murder to make sure that I took the time to really think about my answer. I have friends and athletes of all races, but the fact is that I am not black. I am a white guy from the mountains of North Carolina. Therefore I wanted to understand it from an African American’s point of view, so I reached out to my Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity Brother, Mark Vertreese for some clarity.

I wrote to him on Facebook:

“I’m 100% with you. My question is what do we do? What’s the change that we’re after? I would say step 1 is holding these people accountable. I’d like to step on that cops throat for him to get a taste.

Do you agree that it really comes down to our government enforcing laws? I don’t believe that we can expect a world filled with zero racists. There will always be jerks amongst us. I just want to see them held accountable. There are plenty of great police officers. However we need to make examples out of the bad ones.

Am I right or way off base? Mark Vertreese I am asking you because I want to respond but I can’t pretend that I understand what it’s like. Now I want to know because I want to be a part of the solution. This is me, your Brother, reaching out to get understanding. It’s time for change”

Mark’s response:

I think part of my response to you, Travis, also lends itself to something my Uncle James wrote. I do think behavior can be legislated. If you consider legislation as the rules a society lives by, imagine the 'law of the street light' or 'the talk' black parents have been giving their children as a matter of routine for decade after decade. Black parent (and by literal extension all parents) have legislated the behavior of their children, with consequences front and center for disobeying them. In my opinion, Uncle James, what you cannot legislate is morality.

Travis, I think legislation is where we need to begin to level the playing field, and the way we get there is by voting. Anyone who was kept from voting by law, and then earned that right by law (women and blacks, specifically), has a responsibility to exercise that right in support of the progress and process required to perpetuate the life every American is entitled to enjoy by proclamation of the Constitution of the United States. I am not a fan of rioting, but I get it. I get the passion and the anger. But I'm not one to lean toward destruction. In the same breath, I do not wait for the privileged to recognize the inequity of the life they enjoy in support of giving that up and paying privilege forward. Behavior is legislated by saying you cannot murder someone without consequence. Morality says you shouldn't murder someone because you should understand it is wrong to take someone else's life. Legislating the continued inequity and accepted disparity keeping minorities in their place is terrible. Supporting those politicians and their policies, which enable that inequity and disparity is the morality you cannot easily change. People need to vote for change, and the need a reason to expect that voting is going to effectively change their situation. Voter suppression (hello, Brian Kemp in Georgia), financial inequity (hello, companies more concerned with shareholders than employees), misappropriating the value of a vote (hello, Supreme Court and Citizens United), the dereliction of duty running rampant through the criminal justice system (hello, private prisons and the school-to-prison pipeline), and so much more are at the mercy of the citizenry at the voting booth.”

So now here’s what I believe:

First as a Christian man first, I believe the bible to be true when it says:

Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is ^[a]neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

And

Romans 10:12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him;

And for the police, judges, lawyers, and other officials in the world

John 7:24 Do not judge based on appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.

I don’t believe that we can rid the world of racist jerks, but we can change our response to such people. A response of zero tolerance is justified at this point. I am also talking about the culture in some (notice I said some) police precincts, where cops won’t tell on other cops. You guys are the good guys. There shouldn’t be anything to tell. If there is something to tell and you refuse to tell, you are no longer the good guys.

I want to also say that I believe that most police are great people just living a life of servitude, but it’s time to rid all departments of people like Derek Chauvin (the man that killed George Floyd with multiple complaints, 3 shooting, and 1 fatal shooting). The guys that didn’t do anything to stop Chauvin deserve to be charged with murder as well. I don’t care if they were worried about their job or not. Do the right thing!

To summarize:

·      If you are a Christian, there is zero room for racism. If you are a moral human, the same is true.

·      It’s time for Legislation to make some real changes. Permanent changes! There should be nowhere to hide for corrupt cops. There has to be a higher standard for those that swear a life of protecting and serving.

·      We have to change the internal culture of police precincts. Just like the actions of USA Gymnastics has brought about change in all governing bodies in Olympic sports, there has to be change involving racism and protecting corrupt cops.

So what about the protests? I would be mad too. Let your voices be heard for sure, and let’s spark change. What about the looting and violence? Well, on one hand I can understand. If it were my son that someone smothered the life out of in the street for all to see, I am sure that my actions would not be Christ like. I would act out in a mad rage, but that wouldn’t be the right thing to do.

1. Burning down stores owned by other minorities makes no sense, and doesn’t do anything for the cause. It actually shifts focus off of the acts of George’s killers and on to the riots. It gives people something else to talk about other than what needs to happen.

2. The majority of cops are great people. My neighbor is a cop, and he’s the absolute best. The majority of all races are great people in regards to morals. However we live in a fallen world, so there are going to be some bad people. A few bad acts from any race or group of people do not make the entire race or group bad in nature.

In summary, I am not going to judge anyone on appearance whether they are black, brown, white, or wear a badge. I am going to judge each person based on his or her actions. In the meantime I am all for legislation that will invoke change in this country. Change needs to come swiftly and most assuredly.

I stand with my Black friends (I say Black because this isn’t just an American Tale. This is all over man.) all over the world. So Mark, Eze, Zac, Prince, Malcolm, Lavan, Anthony, and all the rest of you, I hear you. I am with you. I guess the real question is:

Where do we begin?