A mother’s thoughts on George Floyd’s death
Being called out of isolation by the death of George Floyd I found myself surrounded by masked faces carrying handmade protest signs. In this sea of humanity a sign caught my eye. Carried by a middle aged blonde woman it proclaimed “This Mama heard you George”. Tears came to my eyes (and still do) as I think of this message. There is not a mother anywhere who had not heard his last words and did not think of their own child, even if he is a grown man, lying flat on the ground under the knee of a police officer, breathing his last and calling for her.
The look of nonchalance on the face of the white office balancing by the knee on the neck of that black man said everything about police brutality and the discounting of black lives that needed to be said. Here was the photographic evidence that could not be explained away. Here was the proof irrefutable.
It IS this bad. Just look.
Other black men being killed by white privilege had uttered the words “I can’t breathe”. Their recorded last moments were similar and yet the apologist class would come quickly to the officer’s defense. IF he can say he can’t breathe then he is breathing” was one cold rationale making the rounds. But here was a desperation level beyond that. Here was a man dying in front of us with no recourse, no hope, no future and as he knew he was dying he called out “Mama…Mama”. He could not have realized that those words changed and softened the hearts of a nation and a world. His words pierced the hearts and probed the deepest fears of a mother. Those words were a battle cry for mothers. Those last words changed everything.
I don’t know but can guess that they changed the hearts of men as well, hearkening them back to a time in their own lives of abject terror, a time when there was but one person who they knew would die to save them. No matter that calling on that name could bring ridicule for years to come if they survived the crisis. There is a point where it is…that bad.
A wave of sentiment rose up and moved across the nation, then crossed oceans and continued around the world. A tsunami. It is too soon to tell what changes will come of this. The death of Emmett Till saw the birth of strong civil rights actions for decades into the future. May we be on the precipice of such a moment now. Mothers are a good portion of the earth’s inhabitants.
It is time we acted like it.