Black Lives Matter.
June 5, 2020•626 words
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These are some photos I took at the peaceful protest in Redwood City this past Tuesday. It was over 90 degrees outside, but the protestors didn’t mind. People were giving out free water bottles and hand sanitizer, others were handing out masks.
While the area was boarded up, no looting occurred, and the only “vandalism” was on the temporary plywood boards covering the windows. It was an afternoon of unity, remembrance, and a reminder to our police officers that their duty is to protect and serve the citizens of their community.
All of their citizens, no matter their skin color, economic status, or gender identity.
The murder of George Floyd¹, like so many other police killings, is hard to come to terms with. Some, who may be living with privilege they aren’t even aware of, may look at this as a one time evil act of a single police officer.
The facts², however, are unfortunately far more distressing. If you start to research how frequently this happens, and, more depressingly, how brazenly these killings are taking place, it becomes crystal clear that we cannot just claim “a few bad apples” performed these heinous crimes.
If it were “a few bad apples” then one of the three other police officers standing idly by while George Floyd suffocated to death would have stepped in.
If it were “a few bad apples” then the entire Buffalo Police Department’s Emergency Response Team wouldn’t resign in protest³ after two of their colleagues were suspended for violently pushing a non-violent old man, causing him to fall, hit his head, lose consciousness, and begin profusely bleeding from his ear⁴.
If it were “a few bad apples” we wouldn’t see multiple instances of police officers directly attacking medic stands⁵, stabbing water bottles⁶, targeting medics specifically⁷, and even confiscating masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19⁸.
But of course it isn’t just a few bad apples. That phrase doesn’t even make sense. The full proverb, of course, is that “a bad apple spoils the bunch.”
I think it is time for a new bushel of apples.
¹ https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/31/us/george-floyd-investigation.html
² https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-06-04/police-killings-black-victims
³ https://buffalonews.com/2020/06/05/57-members-of-buffalo-police-riot-response-team-resign/
⁴ https://twitter.com/DavidBegnaud/status/1268716877355810818 (warning: extremely disturbing video)
⁷ https://newrepublic.com/article/157985/protest-medics-targeted-police-words
