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VIVYD Magazine Open Theme Issue 17

#BLACKLIVESMATTER

Peace NOT Patience: George Floyd

Editorial by Raymond Kemp

“On May 25, Minneapolis police officers arrested George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, after a deli employee called 911, accusing him of buying cigarettes with a counterfeit $20 bill. Seventeen minutes after the first squad car arrived at the scene, Mr. Floyd was unconscious and pinned beneath three police officers, showing no signs of life.” -NY TIMES

The time is right now! We should be taking an

immediate stand against racism and injustice against Black people. The current situation across our nation is the boiling over generational rage and frustration that has been part of every day life for Black people in the USA for over 400 years. EVERY SINGLE DAY.

“I don’t Understand but I STAND with you.” It is imperative that US citizens, all of whom have seen this struggle over their lifetimes, express empathy and compassion for others. If society will first seek to understand and then to

be understood the healing process will begin and with sincerity, we can become the United States of America. We have been a land divided since the inception.

Now, everyone is a reporter. Smartphones have allowed every owner be a reporter of their lives. Thankfully social media has created a vehicle that allows everyone with an account to visibly respond to WYD, encourages people to show the whole world how they are living, what’s on their mind, and gives voice to what they are thinking about.

Many people are seeing what it means to be Black in America. Experiencing the struggle and the unfairness, up close and personal. Some chose to ignore the cries of those who are being killed by the police until, thanks again to social media, it was shoved in their face. The assassination of George Floyd, broadcast live on social media is one of many murders perpetrated by the police that was caught on camera and put on display for the world to see. Philando Castile was stopped for a broken tailight, as the event unfolded his girlfriend was live streaming the event as he was shot and killed with her and a 4-year-old child in the

back seat. Ahmaud Arbery was murdered while jogging in Georgia, an event caught on video that was reviewed by GA authority months prior to any action being taken by the state to bring justice by the people who killed him. Regrettably so many of these murderers get away with it because of the institutional racism, THIS MUST END.

Swift justice. We must demand clear consequences and repercussions for taking the life of an unarmed person, particularly when they present no threat to life. The police officer kept his knee on George Floyd’s neck for 8:46

minutes until he passed out and died. There are very specific conditions when deadly force is authorized for example, “when the assailant as opportunity, capability, and intent”.

My encouragement to every reader is to start with compassion towards those who are devastated by the trend of Blacks being killed. Then, channel the energy into action: plan, strategize, organize, and mobilize your sphere of influence with a bias towards action in the political system with your votes. Use your political might to get elected officials into office that are concerned about the well being of the entire community. Destroy the system and inequities and barriers in legislation that prevent holding murderers, dressed as police, accountable. “If a prosecutor put your partner in jail and you know the charges were BS, get another one at the polls. It is an election year!”

Organizations that have harmony and are committed to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) should be honorably responding to this national catastrophe and failure of leadership by the President of the United States to deescalate current events.

Humbly offering their policies, procedure, bedrock standards, and on-boarding processes that are the foundations of their organizations is a way to take action.

There needs to be MORE EMPATHY rather than judgement, MORE EMPATHY rather than open confusion and venomous speech from a pathetic so-called president that is repeating the words of segregationist, “looting starts,

shooting starts”. There must be swift consequences to these killers.

Like many of you I am pained by the grotesque racial discrimination that continues in our country. I have experienced high levels of this behavior for my entire life, including 33 years of military service. The burden is heavy when it is carried by so few. Fatigue is not an option!

Our nations persistent reality is not just a story about Black Lives Matter, grief, anger, protest, and George Floyd, it is about infiltration and deliberate mayhem inflicted on the Black communities that are hurt. When you KNOW Better you DO Better. We must do better.

“Know Justice, Know Peace!” Peace NOT confused with Patience.

Encourage yourself often with these ten two letter words, “If It Is To Be, It Is Up To Me!” #KempSolutions

“WHEN CIVILITY LEADS TO DEATH, REVOLTING IS THE ONLY LOGICAL REACTION. THE CRIES FOR PEACE WILL RAIN DOWN, AND WHEN THEY DO, THEY WILL LAND ON DEAF EARS, BECAUSE YOUR VIOLENCE HAS BROUGHT THIS RESISTANCE. WE HAVE THE RIGHT TO FIGHT BACK! REST IN POWER GEORGE FLOYD”

— COLIN KAEPERNICK (@KAEPERNICK7) MAY 28, 2020

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

Martin Luther King Jr.