The Resurgence of the Black Death

The murder of George Floyd spread like wildfire on social media, forcing everyone to deal with a “post-racial” US but what we consume daily is far more insidious.

9 minutes and 29 seconds. The time it took for Derek Chauvin to prostrate to the gods of police brutality to exact the death of another unarmed Black man. The time it took for a video taken by a Black teenager my age to be irrevocably harmed beyond saving. The time it took for America to have a racial reckoning when it comes to the treatment of Black people by authorities. The time it took for another Black person to realize that in the eyes of some, their life does not matter.

Darnella Frazier was never the same after watching George Floyd lose the light in his eyes.

Before and after writing this post, I have never seen the video of George Floyd. Why would I need to? I know that Travyon Martin was shot in an Orlando neighborhood for being “suspicious”? Why does America need to see it to believe it? I know that Breonna Taylor was shot as a result of a no-knock warrant. Why do I need to see that? Why, in 2021, with a Black woman in the second-highest office in the world, does America need to see horrific experiences to realize the fear I feel when I walk by a police officer? I’m not condemning those who are pushed to press the red dot or those who spread it in the name of awareness, I’m condemning those who need to see proof to understand that the police and white citizens acting as judges, juries, and executioners are immoral. Still, people will say “Well if they just compiled…” or “Can you imagine being a police officer scared for your life?” To which I reply, can you imagine having an ounce of empathy for a human being?

Tweet from Breonna Taylor.

Movies about Black deaths and Black struggles that are directed by non-black men are even more popular. We have Django Unchained, Them on Amazon Prime, Birth of a Nation, and Gone with the Wind, and a whole Wikipedia page of Oscar winners built on the backs of Black experiences. Black experiences of people in bondage, subjugation to the system that binds them to the shackles of poverty and violence, and murder by cop, populate our mainstream media so much so that you would think that is all that occupies the public consciousness. School shooting, police shooting, Congress giving their constituents signs of solidarity instead of tangible change (see Nancy Pelosi kneeling in kente cloth or anything President Joe Biden promises but never does). If we are in a simulation, tell the creators it’s broken because it’s repeating the same tired storyline.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D) kneeling in kente cloth, which was demeaning to a country being ripped apart by racial violence. Recently, she told Gianna Floyd, a seven-year-old, that her father’s death “will change the world”.

I want stories like Concrete Cowboy, The Photograph, The Last Black Man in San Francisco, Black is King. Stories that exemplify the glories of being Black in America. Sitting in a salon getting your hair braided and listening to the ladies around you talk about not being Black but living. Stories about the transgender and other LGBT+ icons that bring vibrancy and loving embraces to the world. Stories that make us feel loved, appreciated, and heard. Seen.

Then that image of ideal media shattered. Back to the cycle of pain and suffering.

A headline in my US history class, “Daunte Wright, 20, shot by Brooklyn Center Police”.

Then I watched his video.

Written by Amanda Jesuca with special thanks to Kate Payen.