The death of George Floyd is an appalling incident that challenges this nation’s strength and resolve to fix its problems.
It is clear that the actions of a Minneapolis police officer, who knelt on Floyd’s neck as the handcuffed man said “I can’t breathe” and called for his mother, contributed to Floyd’s death. The officer has been charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter.
And it is clear that the incident, captured on video, has stoked simmering enmity toward law enforcement, adding to an all-too-long list of specious deaths of African Americans at the hands of police officers. Protests, both peaceful and violent, have spread throughout the country over the past several days, including large gatherings in Portland and Seattle.
Outrage is understandable — even necessary. To ignore injustice is to be complicit, regardless of one’s race or background or standing in society. But how we channel that outrage is reflective of who we are as a society — and who we aspire to be.
Sunday in Vancouver, about 100 people gathered at Esther Short Park to call for justice. The peaceable assembly was a far cry from the violence that has been seen in Portland, Seattle and other cities across the nation. In several instances, vandalism has accompanied nightly protests, providing shocking videos that obscure the intended message.
To be clear, most protesters have remained peaceful. But the actions of a few intent on burning buildings and cars or smashing windows can overwhelm the ambition of the many, sadly turning the discussion from one about police brutality to one about lawless radicalism.
Violence and vandalism must be repelled and condemned. The looting of a business or a government building does nothing other than create more innocent victims and diminish communities. Oregon Gov. Kate Brown would be wise to deploy the National Guard to protect buildings and allow law enforcement to manage crowd control in Portland, as Gov. Jay Inslee has done in Seattle.
Yet, we must not allow our distaste for the destruction to obfuscate the meaning of the protests. As Inslee said: “We must not let these illegal and dangerous actions detract from the anger so many feel at the deep injustice laid so ugly and bare by the death of George Floyd.”
Ideally, the death of Floyd will be a turning point, both in public opinion and public policy.
Far too often, unarmed African Americans are killed at the hands of police officers, leading not only to outrage in minority communities but to the casting of unfair suspicions upon the vast majority of officers who compassionately protect the public. Far too often, those deaths go unquestioned or unpunished, further increasing mistrust of officers who risk their lives to keep others safe.
Indeed, most police officers are caring civil servants. But to paraphrase comedian Chris Rock, that is like an airline saying, “Most of our pilots like to land. Only one or two prefer to fly into the side of a mountain.” There is no room for error when it comes to the use of deadly force; accountability is necessary to ensure the trust of the public.
Such accountability begins with us. It is an American right to peaceably assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. And it is a moral duty to call out injustice and demand such a redress.
Whether the death of George Floyd amounts to murder will be up to the courts, but there clearly was an appalling incident of summary justice. How we express our outrage will say much about us.
