Thoughts on the killing of George Floyd
The first time that I watched the video of the Minneapolis cop nonchalantly pressing his knee to the neck of George Floyd, I felt sick to my stomach. I hoped there was some sort of justification for this, but I know there isn’t. It was plain and simple murder.But that said, I wonder how can the rioting, looting, and burning in the aftermath of the killing express genuine sympathy for the legitimate anger toward these few rogue and brutal cops?
It appears little more than another instance of planned violence by ANTIFA, and other radical leftists, or brainless, white or black, racist thugs to bring down America. In our nation, folks have the absolute right to legitimate protest for the addressing of grievances.
But when legitimate and necessary protest is hijacked to enable plunder, pillage, and the murder of innocents, this is another story.This is nothing but human depravity at its worst when these rioting savages pillage and burn and thereby mitigate the guilt and abhorrence that the murder of George Floyd demands. You ask, “how can this be?”
This is done when our thinking and justified anger is turned from demanding justice and the required punishment upon the rogue cops to feelings of fear, anger, and hatred toward the greedy looters and crazed burners. These thugs care nothing for George Floyd or justice or the expression of legitimate grievance. To these, it is only about looting, mayhem, and destruction.I wonder how can it be right to blame the overwhelming majority of police officers who are decent, honorable, and good men and women, for the brutal crimes of lawless renegade cops?I also wonder how does the looting and destruction of the businesses of totally innocent shopkeepers, many of them black, demonstrate or indicate one’s anger at what happened to George Floyd?
What the looting does show is the packs of greedy, brutal, black, and white thugs bent on taking advantage of the valid controlled anger and resentment of genuine protesters. It’s like, “I’m so angry about George Floyd, I just had to go and break into a store, steal a flat-screen TV and then burn the store. Of course, I did it all for George.”
William “Ed” Nicholson
Dunbar Township