In the wake of protests that lit a raging flame to American ideals after witnessing the violent murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, many of us exhausted and distraught are left questioning our existence. To make sense of the pain and chaos, I ask the question how did we get here?
Some Black people declare that four hundred years of black destruction led us to this point. I agree, partially! I also firmly believe that the culmination of this week’s events is the result of what happened November 4, 2008—the historic election of our first Black President, Barack Obama. Interestingly, I surmise that the right-wing conservatives would also pinpoint this date. For some White and Black optimists, President Obama’s election represented unity and the end of a long-standing history of race issues. As we all joined hands in Washington, D.C., on inauguration day, many believed that ‘we had overcome’.
Sadly, the election of my forever President did not bring about the unity that we had anticipated. In fact, President Obama’s election was the catalyst for bringing stark visibility to the Great American Flaw – Racism; unwavering racism that exists as a result of 200 years of slavery and 400 years of the oppression and dehumanization of Black people. President Obama’s election brought out the most vitriol hatred and racist treatment of all people of color from the top down. When I say top down, I mean from the likes of our elected officials like Mitch McConnell and Ted Cruz to the everyday person with aspirations of hitching their wagon to budding white supremacist rhetoric. Right-wing White America could not fathom that a Black man, their symbol of slavery, hatred, and the debased black body, could be the leader of the free world. Sadly, this right-wing sentiment was expected. However, I think what hurt even more was the festering division in the Democratic party and the rise of the pseudo Democrat – red state Independent. Hell, didn’t we all sing “We Shall Overcome” on inauguration day? What happened? Nevertheless, White America detested President Obama not because of his leadership but because he was Black. The hatred for him allowed the vilest racists to emerge, and we saw the rise of once secretive white supremacists groups and bad actors. American Racism, our flaw, was on display for all the world to see and people of color to experience.
After an already long and painful racially charged eight years, Donald Trump, the antithesis of Barack Obama was elected. Trump’s election further exposed American racism and served as a direct critique regarding moving away from unity-styled leadership to a more white supremacist stance. Under Donald Trump’s tutelage and targeted agenda, people of color have endured four years of pure hell. From rolling back all of President Obama’s policies, to immigration, to Coronavirus, to his handling of the Charlottesville white supremacist riots, to this week, where protestors of George Floyd’s murder were called “thugs” that should be shot, Donald Trump has systematically sought to unravel the lives of people of color. Attempting to erase Barack Obama’s election, Donald J. Trump has brought America to its knees by continuing to advance this / his white supremacist agenda. Further, right-wingers in the legislative branch also still reeling off President Obama’s election have allowed it – even when Trump’s chaotic policies and whims have not served them!
Moreover, this year, this month, this week, TODAY, and EVERYDAY are the embodiment of the Great American Flaw—RACISM, where people of color are not allowed to exist in America without the fear of being hunted, shot, or killed. People of color, specifically Black people are fed up and exhausted. This time epitomizes a response to marginalized Black existence. This moment embodies wrath towards a wealth-obsessed President that has single-handedly stoked the fire of frustration, anger, and violence. Black people have been marching for Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd. This moment represents the culmination of people of color pushing back against an America systematically designed for White people. The symbolic burning of a police station represents lighting the fire of fake American justice in hopes for true equity and equality. The death of George Floyd and many others exposes the naked truth of police brutality and a defective American judicial system. People of color are just exasperated enough to burn it all down and die willingly for justice and freedom in the country Black Americans built!