I’ve Watched Too Many People Die This Week.
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I wrote this two days ago but I thought now was the right time to post.
Memorial Day was yesterday. It was a time I spent with family and an opportunity to consciously remember the sacrifice made to maintain this nation, its founding values, and principles. Today, however, I am reminded of something far different and far more dark. I’ve watched too many people die this week. It was August of 2016 when Colin Kaepernick took a knee before a 49ers game in protest of the treatment of black Americans by police, the larger criminal justice system, and the even larger societal biases that led to systemic oppression. The counterprotest came swiftly. To sum it up, our current president, countless politicians, media outlets, and even the NFL, orchestrated a campaign that left Kaepernick unemployed and (for a time) without a platform from which to broadcast his message. This all, of course, thinly veiled as support for our county, our flag, our anthem, or our troops. We know that he supported our country, but he was more concerned with its citizens and their wellbeing than the nation’s essence or its symbols. This is what makes me reminisce about yesterday’s festivities. His knee itself, however, is what brings me to reminisce about today. I’ve watched too many people die this week. This month. This year. It feels like just yesterday that I watched the struggling body of Ahmed Aubrey limp away and fall to the ground. He fought all he could for his life, his future, his family’s peace and sanity. The wound in the heart of every decent American was barely closed when we learned that police in Kentucky shot EMT Breonna Taylor eight times in her own home, after failing to knock on the door or identify themselves, killing her. Her death didn’t gain notoriety or media coverage because each and every officer breaking into her home either failed to wear a body-camera or disabled theirs. The wound in all our hearts grew larger and, again, had barely healed when we learned of the strangling death of George Floyd. I watched the life drain out of this man, son, brother, boyfriend, and human being. I watched as he pleaded for air. I watched him scream out for his “momma.” I watched his body go limp and be dragged away. I watched an officer take a knee, not in protest, but in defiance of humanity. I’ve watched too many people die this week, but I don’t make a habit of just complaining, so here is the point. Each of these deaths were PREVENTABLE. That is the key to the whole issue. Whatever the investigations into these murders reveal, whatever is learned about the killers or about the slain, the fact that an inordinate and unprovoked use of force was employed as the first instead as the last option is unacceptable. Racist people will continue to exist, but these events cannot. I do not believe that the officers who killed Breonna and George wanted either to die, but they also didn’t care. And, as we see, their ignorance was deadly. Police from Washington to Florida need two things: training and accountability. Give them the tools and knowledge they need to do their important jobs, to protect and serve, and then ensure they know the consequences for not using them. This needs to be federally mandated that all officers must undergo extensive training on use of force, bias, de-escalation, and measures for mitigation among everything else it takes to do the incredibly difficult job BEFORE they are allowed to carry a gun and compel citizens into compliance. President Barack Obama empowered the Justice Department to investigate police departments accused of malpractice across the country. Donald Trump does not deserve blame for the recent scourge of murders across this country, however, he deserves all the credit for his failed leadership and dismantling of DOJ protocol under Jeff Sessions and, presumably, under William Barr. We can do better. We have to do better because, at this point, Enough Is Enough.
Written 05/26/2020
— Jason Dones
