Let’s be honest about what must change
I f the American flag had a soul, it would be weeping tears of blood. But it does not. It never will. The flag is supposed to symbolize freedom for all of us, not loyalty to any party, or person. It now is used by some as a symbol of oppression, displayed side-by-side with the Trump flag.
White supremacy has spawned centuries of racism, responsible for atrocities against Africans who were bought here and sold as property. Terrorism of black Americans has been a way of life that America continues to deny, make excuses for, try to conceal.
A live television execution has laid everything bare. That video says it all, symbolic of what America has done since its colonial inception. There were the perpetrators and there were those who watched, did nothing, sanctioned, ignored, or denied. Those who say they are against violence but silently watched these atrocities share blame. There are no innocents.
Consider Frederick Douglass’ speech of 1857, “If there is no struggle, there is no progress.”
We all need to study the history of policing in this country. In the wake of the Civil War, the role of law enforcement was not to protect and serve all. It was to return the property of plantation owners and harass and terrorize those freed. Has anything changed? The police mission has been and is to safeguard the property of the merchants and wealthy elite. It is almost like having a private security force paid for with taxpayer dollars. Consider what happened in New London. A black woman, recording the remains of an abandoned public housing project for posterity, was made afraid because of some overzealous police protecting private property.
George Floyd was executed for property, $20. Protect and serve is a nice phrase, but the reality is something different.
There is no responsible leadership on the federal level. Our immediate hope is responsible local leadership. Newspapers can be a powerful force for the positive change and illumination. It is good that your columnist Mike DiMauro reversed course on the peaceful protests of Colin Kaepernick.
The fact that the teacher who taught students how to lynch someone “humanely” continued to teach in the New London school system, before exposing himself with a racist Facebook post and being forced to resign, is insulting.
This monster of police intimidation, which seeks to destroy and rob people of their humanity, must die — but it won’t be a natural death. The head needs to be destroyed, so the body will die. Law enforcement does not answer to the people, but the hidden hand. That is why that murderous officer looked the whole planet in the face while taking the life of a human being, as if to say my real boss has my back.
He was right. Some have already started, saying Mr. Floyd’s death was caused by his health issues. This is too much to swallow and remains stuck in our collective throats. We are in a state of emergency. Our only hope may be what Lou Rawls sang about “Tobacco Road,” “Blow it up, start all over again.”
A reading of the Declaration of Independence says it another way. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal … that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it.”
Beverly Herbert was born into a segregated North Carolina in 1949. She recalls her first letter to the editor, at about age 14, was in praise of Muhammad Ali. A retired social worker and former City of Groton council member, she lives in Groton.