The failure of the county district attorney to arraign and bring murder charges against the 4 policemen responsible for the death of George Floyd yesterday is outrageous. How is it possible? The evidence is in plain sight. Incontrovertible. On a video, more than one, in fact.
A good part of the answer lies in seeing the world as it is, in seeing justice (injustice) as it is practiced, in seeing the systemic racism that is materially embedded in the institutional life of our society, including and especially, in the criminal justice system. Or to put it differently, it is a racialized system of exploitation and oppression that make the securing of justice in the case of George Floyd so difficult, despite the incontrovertible evidence at hand.
Most of us don’t command a big audience, but each of us, nevertheless, can find ways to speak out against racism. And an immediate place to begin is to demand that murder charges be brought against the 4 policemen that cruelly took the life of George Floyd. What we can’t do is bring back his life. And that sobering reality will temper the joy of any victory that might be won.
Black Lives Matter
