In response the latest three deaths of unarmed Black Americans in our country, protests, both peaceful and riots, have erupted throughout the country. Citizens of many cultures unite to protest the seemingly unwarranted deaths and the vile law system that allows such deaths to happen and to carry on unpunished.
Already a tense time due to the stressful COVID-19 pandemic, many citizens truly feel that law enforcement and racists are deliberately targeting and killing Blacks. “Blacks are being hunted.” In downtown Atlanta, peaceful protests tend to begin in the early afternoon and early evening. Shortly thereafter, groups – some from the area, many not from Georgia at all – ignite violence and riots.
Noted thus far in year 2020 are three renowned killings: Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia, Breonna Taylor in Kentucky, and George Floyd in Minnesota.
25-year-old Black man Ahmaud Marquez Arbery was shot in Glynn County, Georgia near Brunswick, Georgia on February 23, 2020 while jogging in the Satilla Shores neighborhood. Arbery had been pursued and confronted by two white residents who were armed and driving a pickup truck. At the time of the event and days thereafter, the Glynn County Police Department and the Brunswick District Attorney’s Office did not make any arrests in the Arbery case.
26-year-old Breonna Taylor was shot by Louisville Metro Police officers who entered her apartment in Louisville, Kentucky on March 13, 2020, with a “no-knock” warrant. Although the warrant was allegedly intended for two people suspected of selling drugs more than ten miles away, Breonna Taylor’s home was a part of the warrant. Taylor was shot eight times.
It has been reported that the officers had entered her home without knocking and without announcing themselves as police officers. It has furthermore been reported that the officers proceeded to spray gunfire into the residence. According to police, Taylor’s boyfriend Kenneth Walker fired first, injuring a law enforcement officer, and the police officers returned fire.
46-year-old George Floyd was accused of using a counterfeit $20.00 bill at a deli in Powderhorn, a neighborhood south of downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota on May 25, 2020. After apprehending the unarmed Floyd, who seemed to be compliant and peaceful, a Minneapolis police officer held Floyd pinned down in handcuffs on the ground with his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes. Four Minneapolis police participated or looked on as Floyd laid unresponsive.
A video recording by a witness showed the arrested Floyd repeating “Please”, “I can’t breathe”, and “Don’t kill me.” The death of George Floyd is reminiscent of the 2014 death of another unarmed Black man Eric Garner that repeated “I can’t breathe” eleven times after being placed in a chokehold by a New York police officer during an arrest in Staten Island.
The Atlanta Inquirer continues to support efforts of Civil Rights and Human Dignity. The Inquirer supports non-violent protests and supports the families of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
It is beyond time for a national forum with the central topic of Race and Multi-Culturalism in America, not intended to separate us, but to educate us.
In order for us to come together in brotherly / sisterly love, we must understand and respect our various pasts and plights so that we can be educated about our present and foresee a better and brilliant future.
This is a must so that we, together, have a vision whereby we can walk together, play together, go to school together, work together, live and breathe together, worship together, and, ultimately, love together… truly living in a world free of hate.
Quotes by Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968)
Civil Rights Activist, Minister, Philosopher
– “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
– “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
– “The time is always right to do what is right.”
Quotes by William Lloyd Garrison (December 10, 1805 – May 24, 1879)
Abolitionist; Journalist; Suffragist; Social Reformer; Founder and Publisher of Anti-slavery Newspaper, The Liberator; Co-founder of the American Anti-Slavery Society
– “Wherever there is a human being, I see God-given rights inherent in that being, whatever may be the sex or complexion.”
– “I am in earnest – I will not equivocate – I will not excuse – I will not retreat a single inch – and I will be heard!”
– “Wherever there is a human being, I see God-given rights inherent in that being, whatever may be the sex or complexion.”
Last updated on May 31, 2020