First Step Taken, What's Next?

It’s been one year since the death of George Floyd at the hands of 4 Minneapolis Police Officers. And one year later, Derek Chauvin, the man who had his knee on George Floyd’s neck, was found guilty on all charges. It took almost one whole year for the judicial system to find a man guilty of second-degree murder, when the general public who has been continuously protesting since then, could tell he was guilty in the first week since the incident.

Why?

Why is it so much harder for a person of color to receive justice in the United States’ Judicial System, compared to a white person? Why is it that we try so hard to justify a white offender’s actions if it results in the deaths of minorities, but if the situation was switched, we don’t even bother to find out why a person of color became the offender?

Even though Derek Chauvin has been found guilty, that does not mean that black deaths by blue hands have been reduced, in fact, it has actually been increasing. More and more African Americans are dying at the hands of police officers for one reason or the other. Why? Why is it so hard for us, as Americans, to change, and to be more open-minded?

No matter what, if a real, permanent change is to happen, we need to address the issues at the core. This country was founded off the backs of African American slaves who were brutalized into indentured servitude. The sense of superiority over African Americans stems all the way to even before the founding of this country. That needs to change. All humans are equal in the eyes of God. That is a basic belief across multiple religions. So why is it so hard for us, as human beings, to follow that same principle?

If real, permanent change is to be implemented in our society and in this system, we need a plan that will make sure that these changes last. The first step should be to identify how deep the systematic racism in the system really is. Only when we identify the problem and recognize it as a problem, will we be able to come up with an effective solution that will ensure that the change lasts. We owe this much to the people who have lost their lives because of this prejudice.

If, and I mean IF, we are able to recognize how deep this prejudice is, and how much we and the people around us practice it (intentionally or unintentionally), then we need to start having conversations about this issue. One problem that I have noticed is that whenever we get into these kinds of conversations with others who may or may not practice this type of systematic racism, be it against African Americans, or any other ethnicity, is that people become defensive when confronted about these matters. If any change is going to happen, small changes need to occur for massive change to really be effective. If we are able to recognize the prejudices we hold, and instead of becoming defensive, we sit down and have conversations about these prejudices with those we care about, we might just be able to start making effective change in our own environments and in this society.