Athletes, it took shared outrage over George Floyd’s death to wake up white America | Opinion
The killing of unarmed George Floyd while on the ground and handcuffed has seen sports stars out front and outspoken against police brutality and in support of protesters because black athletes are aware even fame and money do not insulate them from racism or prejudice.
They have lived it.
“Am I next?” said young , black tennis star Coco Gauff after the Floyd killing.
Dwyane Wade said something about the murder of Floyd that hit me. It was simple, what he said, but I felt it. I heard it.
“Justice will not be served,” the Miami icon and former Heat star wrote on Instagram, “until the unaffected are as outraged as those who are.”
He wrote it in all capital letters. Followed by 10 exclamation points.
The unaffected. That’s me. That might be you. That is most anybody in this country who gets to sail through life with the wholly unearned luxury of not feeling racism or prejudice or a policeman’s knee on our neck solely because we happened to be born white.
It is an embarrassment of privilege. Not that white folks get to enjoy it — but that everybody doesn’t.
It is the shame of our country — its very name, the United States of America, sounding like a lie in a time of staggering divisiveness — that young African American parents still have to figure out the right time and the right words to tell their children what being black in America requires of them. A talk white parents needn’t broach.
It is past time for the unaffected to stand up, and join a national chorus for change. For an end to police brutality, unequal rights and the toxicity of white supremacy. If in the killing of George Floyd we are seeing some sort of tipping point, an impetus for actual change, his legacy will be enduring.
We are seeing some of that in people of all races coming together in protest from coast to coast in the past week. It’s as if it has finally dawned on people that social justice is not just a “black cause,” but a human right.
Miami rapper and activist Luther Campbell, like Wade an icon of the 3-0-5, told me: “Out of the bad, of all the bad, I have never seen this many white people come to the aid of African Americans.”
Human hearts beat the same, and it is impossible to not feel outrage and anger in the video that caused all of this. Of a white Minneapolis policeman later charged with third-degree murder -- upgraded Wednesday to second-degree murder -- for slowly killing an unarmed, handcuffed black men by pressing a knee against his neck for almost nine minutes. The three fellow police officers who did not intervene, also fired, were charged Wednesday with aiding and abetting the crime, according to reports.
Some of you don’t want to hear this, but NBA star Bradley Beal was right when he said, “The world will never grow until we are comfortable having uncomfortable talks and taking action upon them.”
The complication in having uncomfortable talks is that everything gets hijacked, right? Turned around in the maelstrom of anxiety and emotion.
Somebody hashtags #BlackLivesMatter and inevitably somebody missing the point entirely says, “All lives matter!”
I was among the millions on Instagram to participate in #BlackoutTuesday in support of the BLM movement and those protesting the Floyd killing, and I awaken the next day to see #WhiteoutWednesday trending on Twitter.
NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick takes a knee during the national anthem in 2016 to protest exactly what killed George Floyd, and he gets accused of disrespecting the flag.
“This idea that players are kneeling in support of social justice was something some people couldn’t wrap their head around,” says Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores, who is black.
Messages get hijacked and misappropriated and even the protests have been, with widespread reports that domestic terrorists and extremist groups — not those genuinely out there for George Floyd — are inciting the vast majority of the mayhem and looting.
(It was an entirely peaceful protest near the White House, by the way, when police were ordered to use flashbangs to quickly disperse the crowd and clear a path for Donald Trump’s walk to his photo-op in front of that church. Whatever your politics, that happened. It is not fake news).
There are simple truths that get twisted with false assumptions.
I support the protests on behalf of George Floyd.
That does not mean I am pro-looting and in favor of starting fires. Which apparently does not go without saying.
I am angry and sick over police brutality, especially against people of color.
That does not mean I think all or even most police officers are bad. I have friends in the police. My nephew and his wife both are police officers. Civil society needs good police officers who take their serve-and-protect oath to heart.
I am a white man.
That should not mean I cannot feel empathy, or outrage, over that image of George Floyd dying.
I grew up taught simple ideals, like the golden rule, do unto others, peace and love. Corny, right?
I want us all to see each other’s eyes and hearts before we see skin. Naive! Unrealistic! But can we get there? Can we try?
I want us, one day, to finally become the country we have fallen short of but must keep striving to be: The United States of America.
Maybe our children will do a lot better than we have in realizing the dream.
This story was originally published June 3, 2020 at 2:20 PM.
