The George Floyd murder in Minneapolis was a tragedy
George Floyd tragedy exacerbates…
The George Floyd murder in Minneapolis was a tragedy. I tell people that you can’t defend what 5% of the people in any occupation do. There are terrible police officers and there are great police officers. I met with the retired police chief of Minneapolis a couple months ago, and he shared his frustration with not being able to get rid of bad cops. He told me that he had fired 11 officers, and was forced to take them back by the union. This is part of the problem.
The incident:
George Floyd enters Cup Foods in Minneapolis to buy cigarettes. He uses a counterfeit bill. Often people who use counterfeit money don’t know it’s counterfeit (as it was passed on to them). The store clerk calls the police. Floyd leaves the store without incident and is on the street in front of the store. The officers state at some point he resisted arrest so he was cuffed and laid down on the street. An officer kneels on Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes. Floyd initially states, “I can’t breathe.” Then dies. He is unresponsive when the ambulance arrives. The Minneapolis police department fires all 4 officers involved in the incident. The owner of Cup Foods volunteers to pay for Floyd’s funeral. The Minneapolis mayor wants the officer directly involved in the incident incarcerated.
Stores are vandalized and burned for 3 days in Minneapolis and on the third day the looting starts in St. Paul. The Minneapolis Tribune publishes an article in defense of looters, indicating the civil rights movement wasn’t successful.
The idea that this behavior is heroic or necessary is as idiotic as racism. My thoughts:
I remembered reading an argument between Winston Churchill and Mahatma Ghandi where Churchill stated we need to act for the greater good. Ghandi responded by stating that any act that denies one person rights, is not in the best interest of humanity.
I don’t defend looters. I understand the anger, but denying one person the opportunity to operate a business, because you’re angry over a separate injustice, is denying individuals and families their right to peacefully survive. Further, the civil rights movement was successful, it just wasn’t complete.
As anyone who has made successful life changes knows, you can’t go from A to Z. You go from A to B, and when you’re at B you can go to C. Everything wasn’t resolved after the civil rights movement, but much was accomplished. 100’s of people were lynched in the U.S. annually before 1950. Schools were integrated in the 1960’s. We still have much to accomplish, but don’t lose sight of the success. I appreciate that we are seeing material being suggested to open up people’s eyes to racism. But don’t tell me I need to be more enlightened when you’re burning people’s businesses and robbing stores. The argument that violence and destruction is what needs to happen to get people to listen, is the same argument I hear from assaultive men in domestic abuse cases. It’s not okay. Any behavior that violates the rights of one person, is not in the best interest of humanity. The assumption that the majority of white people think the same as one abusive man is as distorted as the thoughts of the white cop who committed the murder.
Other Gandhi quotes:
"I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary. The evil it does is permanent."
“Anger is the enemy of nonviolence, and pride is the monster that swallows it up.”
“One man cannot do right in one department of life whilst he is occupied in doing wrong in any other department. Life is one indivisible whole”
Don’t get caught up in the hate… We make the world better, one interaction at a time. It’s all I could ask of any of you today. Take care!
Pictured below: St. Cloud pulls off peaceful protest! Thank you! (Thank you KSNI for the photo!)
A separate story (and we need to have separate stories):
I hadn’t had a haircut since March, as a result of businesses shutting down.
Last weekend in my home, I asked, “Who wants to cut my hair?”
My 6-year-old granddaughter volunteered, “I would.”
To her surprise, I told her, “Okay. Let’s get a scissors and you can be my hair stylist.”
After I let her cut away, she suddenly stopped.
I asked, “How’s it going?”
She humbly responded, “Not good Grandpa.”
I laughed and buzzed it. Time to start over.
Thanks for listening,
Frank
The George Floyd murder in Minneapolis was a tragedy. I tell people that you can’t defend what 5% of the people in any occupation do. There are terrible police officers and there are great police officers. I met with the retired police chief of Minneapolis a couple months ago, and he shared his frustration with not being able to get rid of bad cops. He told me that he had fired 11 officers, and was forced to take them back by the union. This is part of the problem.
The incident:George Floyd enters Cup Foods in Minneapolis to buy cigarettes. He uses a counterfeit bill. Often people who use counterfeit money don’t know it’s counterfeit (as it was passed on to them). The store clerk calls the police. Floyd leaves the store without incident and is on the street in front of the store. The officers state at some point he resisted arrest so he was cuffed and laid down on the street. An officer kneels on Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes. Floyd initially states, “I can’t breathe.” Then dies. He is unresponsive when the ambulance arrives. The Minneapolis police department fires all 4 officers involved in the incident. The owner of Cup Foods volunteers to pay for Floyd’s funeral. The Minneapolis mayor wants the officer directly involved in the incident incarcerated.
Stores are vandalized and burned for 3 days in Minneapolis and on the third day the looting starts in St. Paul. The Minneapolis Tribune publishes an article in defense of looters, indicating the civil rights movement wasn’t successful.
The idea that this behavior is heroic or necessary is as idiotic as racism. My thoughts:I remembered reading an argument between Winston Churchill and Mahatma Ghandi where Churchill stated we need to act for the greater good. Ghandi responded by stating that any act that denies one person rights, is not in the best interest of humanity.
I don’t defend looters. I understand the anger, but denying one person the opportunity to operate a business, because you’re angry over a separate injustice, is denying individuals and families their right to peacefully survive. Further, the civil rights movement was successful, it just wasn’t complete.
As anyone who has made successful life changes knows, you can’t go from A to Z. You go from A to B, and when you’re at B you can go to C. Everything wasn’t resolved after the civil rights movement, but much was accomplished. 100’s of people were lynched in the U.S. annually before 1950. Schools were integrated in the 1960’s. We still have much to accomplish, but don’t lose sight of the success. I appreciate that we are seeing material being suggested to open up people’s eyes to racism. But don’t tell me I need to be more enlightened when you’re burning people’s businesses and robbing stores. The argument that violence and destruction is what needs to happen to get people to listen, is the same argument I hear from assaultive men in domestic abuse cases. It’s not okay. Any behavior that violates the rights of one person, is not in the best interest of humanity. The assumption that the majority of white people think the same as one abusive man is as distorted as the thoughts of the white cop who committed the murder.
Other Gandhi quotes:
"I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary. The evil it does is permanent."
“Anger is the enemy of nonviolence, and pride is the monster that swallows it up.”
“One man cannot do right in one department of life whilst he is occupied in doing wrong in any other department. Life is one indivisible whole”
Don’t get caught up in the hate… We make the world better, one interaction at a time. It’s all I could ask of any of you today. Take care!
Pictured below: St. Cloud pulls off peaceful protest! Thank you! (Thank you KSNI for the photo!)
A separate story (and we need to have separate stories): I hadn’t had a haircut since March, as a result of businesses shutting down.
Last weekend in my home, I asked, “Who wants to cut my hair?”
My 6-year-old granddaughter volunteered, “I would.”
To her surprise, I told her, “Okay. Let’s get a scissors and you can be my hair stylist.”
After I let her cut away, she suddenly stopped.
I asked, “How’s it going?”
She humbly responded, “Not good Grandpa.”
I laughed and buzzed it. Time to start over.
Thanks for listening,Frank
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