The Other America

[Ed Note: I’m breaking OLT’s only rule for the first time and dispensing with the jokes for this one story. Simply put, there’s nothing to laugh at here. I’ll be back on Monday with the usual haha shtick. Fair warning, today’s issue covers topics some folks may be uncomfortable with but I ask you to come at it with an open mind and email me your concerns directly. You’ll find the link to the latest episode of the podcast at the end of today’s issue.]

Protestors marched in the streets for the tenth day in a row Thursday, as George Floyd was memorialized at a service held at Minneapolis’s North Central University.

George was killed on Monday last week, when officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes. Three officers stood by and watched as he died, pleading for mercy.

George’s death might have passed unnoticed, just another racially motivated case of police brutality for the ever–growing pile. But the entire incident was caught on film.

Between security footage and cell phone video from a crowd of onlookers, you can piece together the entire incident. George Floyd does not commit a crime. He does not resist arrest. In fact, he complies with police right up until the moment he passes out and Officer Chauvin continues to press on his neck.

The world watched as George died and came face to face with the cold hard reality of what Martin Luther King Jr. meant when he said there are “two Americas.”

One America “flowing with the milk of prosperity and the honey of equality.” And the Other America “with a daily ugliness about it that transforms the buoyancy of hope into the fatigue of despair.”

One America where the police protect and serve. And another where they kneel on the back of your neck.

In the days that followed, millions of Americans took to the streets to campaign for justice for George Floyd and protest police brutality and the fatal use of force by law enforcement officers against black Americans.

“The reason why we’re marching all over the world is because we were like George, we couldn’t breathe,” said the Reverend Al Sharpton, in George’s eulogy. “It’s time for us to stand up in George’s name and say get your knee off our necks.”

“I Can’t Breathe”

Even as the threat of the coronavirus persisted, protests spread to more than 400 cities in all 50 states. There have been instances of rioting and violence, especially in Minneapolis in the days after George’s death, but the vast majority of the protests have been peaceful.

Police departments have responded to the complaints of police brutality the only way they know how: good old–fashioned police brutality.

For ten days, we’ve heard reports and seen videos of police officers gassing peaceful gatherings, beating unarmed protesters with batons, exploding eyeballs with rubber bullets, committing unlawful arrests, attacking journalists, and posing for some charming photo ops.

In Minneapolis, officers fired paint canisters at citizens on their own porch. In Brooklyn, police drove two SUVs into a crowd of protesters. In Atlanta, officers fired Tasers on two college students in a car and dragged them out of the vehicle.

And just yesterday, footage emerged of two officers pushing a 75–year–old man to the ground and walking past his body as blood spilled from the back of his head and ears.

Some folks, struggling to understand the protestors and their motivations, have turned to conspiracy theories, propagated by online voices and even the mainstream media.

George Floyd faked his death. George Soros is the evil mastermind behind it all. The protesters are all from out of state, despite there being protests in all 50 states, simultaneously attended by millions of people. (Antifa must have got their time machine working.)

The truth is there is racism and injustice in our system and there has been since the very beginning. The Civil Rights movement didn’t magic it away. It was just the start of a long and hard road to something better.

Communities across America are hurting, invisibly. And what you’re seeing right now is just a fraction of that pain.

Black Lives Matter

If you spend a lot of time online, you’ve undoubtedly seen this exchange: One person says “Black Lives Matter.” Another counters with “No, All Lives Matter.”

On its surface, there’s an inherent truth to All Lives Matter.

Of course, all lives matter. But using it as a retort like this reveals a confusion regarding the actual meaning of Black Lives Matter.

Black Lives Matter is simply a statement that black lives are undervalued by American society, and far more likely to be killed by a member of the police.

Black Lives Matter is nothing more than a call for black lives to receive the same respect and protection as all other lives.

To quote Unitarian Universalist Minister Daniel S. Schatz: “To say that Black lives matter is not to say that other lives do not; indeed, it is quite the reverse—it is to recognize that all lives do matter, and to acknowledge that African Americans are often targeted unfairly … and that our society is not yet so advanced as to have become truly color blind.”

And with that said, I hope you’ll join me today, and the rest of the country, in saying Black Lives Matter.

Real societal change is a long and difficult process. But if you’d like to be a part of that change, I’m going link some resources below, where you can donate and start making a difference today.

The Bail Project: Donations will go toward paying bail/bonds to release protesters.

Black and Brown Founders: Donations will go toward arts and other programs for black and brown people.

Black Lives Matter Global Network: Donations will go toward legislative efforts to overturn racist policies at national, state, and local levels.

The National Police Accountability Project: Donations will go toward police reform initiatives, including efforts to redistribute police funding to other social services.

NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund: Donations will go toward legal aid and education for black, brown, and other minority groups.

ONE LAST THING New Podcast Episode

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You can listen to the latest episode here on Spotify or iTunes iTunes. Or simply search your preferred podcast app for “One Last Thing.”

In this week’s episode, we investigate the Grand American Chicken Conspiracy, thrill at the latest chapter of the US–China love–hate relationship, and take a look at a coronavirus treatment that could be in hospitals later this month.

Subscribe to our feed and you can listen to every episode as soon as it drops on Friday, even before you get the email alert in your daily One Last Thing.

MARKET MOVEMENTS

Closing Data for 6/5/20

• The May US jobless rate fell from 14.7% to 13.3% and employers added 2.5 million jobs, early signs the labor market is starting to recover.

• American Airlines (AAL) soared 41% yesterday after announcing it would add significantly more flights in July.

• Snap will no longer promote President Trump’s account on its platform, following Twitter’s decision to flag some of Trump’s inflammatory posts.

Cheers,

Shane Ormond
Editor, One Last Thing

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