An American in our government’s custody was pulled out of the back of a police car and killed, on camera. The murderer, sworn to protect and serve the citizens of his community, expected impunity since he wore a shield and the victim was a black man. Three other police officers watched impassively as George Floyd gasped for breath until he couldn’t, from under Derek Chauvin’s knee.
This match is thrown into the racist powder keg that Donald Trump spent his entire political career pressurizing. In the middle of the worst pandemic anyone alive has ever seen, violence has erupted in at least 25 major American cities. This country has not seen this level of rebellion since Martin Luther King was assassinated on April 4, 1968.
Donald Trump built his entire political career out of racism, division, and hatred. Our President is incapable and entirely uninterested in delivering words of calm, comfort, or unity. He sees the destruction of this country as an opening to inflame and demean, and he is using every single opportunity. And all I can do is cry.
There are real leaders. Keisha Lance Bottoms, my Mayor, told everyone in Atlanta that they are heard, that change will happen, and that Atlanta will continue the great work that we have already done. Half of our police force are minorities. One third of our police force are women. Atlanta will continue to improve. We are heard. The City of Atlanta’s Police Chief is a small white woman. Before the protests in Atlanta started, on YouTube, she told the City of Atlanta that George Floyd’s murder disgusts her to her core. This is leadership in the right direction. Keisha’s speech to the City of Atlanta was the most powerful speech I have heard from a government official in 4 years. These are proven leaders. Atlanta is tense but quiet, tonight.
In contrast, Donald Trump started commenting on the protest by dusting off the Civil Rights era phrase “When the looting starts, the shooting starts.” That phrase was the rallying cry behind the 1967 Miami Police Chief Walter Headley’s institutionalized police brutality against young black men. For 20 years, Miami had a policy of beating up young black people. Chief Headley would defend his institutional assault on black people by calling out “young hoodlums, from 15 to 21, who have taken advantage of the civil rights campaign. … We don’t mind being accused of police brutality.” His use of that phrase was not an accident.
Doubling down on the most divisive course of action, as usual, he followed with this Twittertantrum.
Great job last night at the White House by the U.S. @SecretService. They were not only totally professional, but very cool. I was inside, watched every move, and couldn’t have felt more safe. They let the “protesters” scream & rant as much as they wanted, but whenever someone got too frisky or out of line, they would quickly come down on them, hard – didn’t know what hit them. The front line was replaced with fresh agents, like magic. Big crowd, professionally organized, but nobody came close to breaching the fence. If they had they would have been greeted with the most viscious dogs, and most ominous weapons, I have ever seen. That’s when people would have been really badly hurt, at least. Many Secret Service agents just waiting for action. “We put the young ones on the front line, sir, they love it, and good practice.” As you saw last night, they were very cool & very professional. Never let it get out of hand. Thank you! On the bad side, the D.C. Mayor, @MurielBowser, who is always looking for money & help, wouldn’t let the D.C. Police get involved. “Not their job.” Nice! The professionally managed so-called “protesters” at the White House had little to do with the memory of George Floyd. They were just there to cause trouble. The @SecretService handled them easily. Tonight, I understand, is MAGA NIGHT AT THE WHITE HOUSE???
Donald Trump
Donald Trump delivered not a single true statement, but at least it’s racist and divisive.
As the grandson of the President of the United States, I have observed the Secret Service protecting the President my entire life. I have a very close perspective of their honor, devotion, and professionalism.
I know for a fact that their first line of defense is not “the most vicious dogs,” and Donald Trump does too. Trump knew that the vision of attack dogs against Civil Rights activists was too rich to ignore. Channeling Bull Connor, he drove that wedge into our nation’s heart.
There is not a single Secret Service agent anywhere in the world, especially within Presidential Protective Detail, that would giddily report to their protectee that they have put their youngest and bloodthirstiest agents on the front line against angry rioters, loving every minute of it. But a statement like that drives home the Us vs. Them brand of politics that he has brought to America. It’s not helpful for a peaceful solution. Trump knows this. That’s why he said it.
The D.C. Police Department works hand-in-hand with the Secret Service at the White House, all the time. These two professional law enforcement organizations coordinate like they always have. It is entirely false to declare that the D.C. Police Department would not coordinate with the White House Secret Service. But Mayor Muriel Bowser is a Democratic black woman, and what would a racist screed be without a black target?
Ensuring the message of division and hatred continues, his next message of “calm” was this:
“The violence and vandalism is being led by Antifa and other radical leftwing groups who are terrorizing the innocent, destroying jobs, hurting businesses and burning down buildings. We cannot and must not allow a small group of criminals and vandals to wreck our cities and lay waste to our communities. I will not allow angry mobs to dominate.”
President Trump with no evidence, and no facts.
There is zero evidence that Antifa is organizing the riots. But Trump made sure his message of division infiltrated the other wings of the corrupt disaster of a government that he built. U.S. Attorney General William Barr declared that the violence was being planned and organized by “anarchic and far-left extremists, using Antifa-like tactics.”
Barr admits that he does not have any evidence that Antifa is behind it, so he makes up a completely new category of violence and declares it “Antifa-like tactics.” There are no previous instances, no previous tactics that exist from Antifa in the real world. Facts have never stopped this administration from finding someone, anyone, else to blame.
I am an extremely privileged person. I have never, ever, ever worried that the police officer in the car behind me is going to drag me out of my car and stomp on my neck until I die like George Floyd. I have never worried that the police officer in my neighborhood is going to show up at the wrong address, bust down my door, and kill me like Kathryn Johnston. When I was in High School, I never thought that someone ten years older would hunt me like Trayvon Martin, and I certainly never thought they could get away with it. I never worried that a police officer would choke me to death like Eric Garner. I have never worried that as an 18-year-old, I would be shot a half dozen times in the chest by the police like Michael Brown. As a 12-year-old, I never thought I would be murdered by the police like Tamir Rice. I don’t worry about being murdered by the police in front of my children like Philandro Castile. I do not worry about having my spinal cord snapped Freddie Gray. I am not Alton Sterling, Delrawn Small, Ezell Ford, Dante Parker, Laquan McDonald, Eric Harris, Walter Scott, Billy Ray Davis, Tyree Crawford, Bettie Jones, Janet Wilson, Randy Nelson, Darius Robinson, Paul O’Neal, Eric Reason, Breonna Taylor, Michael Lorenzo Dean. I am not George Floyd.
I am white. These people are black. My experience should be the American experience, and all Americans demand and deserve the same.
We see today a massive movement of people demanding the end to racial injustice systemic in the American experience, and we see a much smaller group of people rebelling violently against a government that has never worked for them. The President of the United States, who is only capable of division, victimhood, and racism, is incapable of unity and calm. This is a profoundly volatile moment in American history.