On George Floyd’s Death and Unanswered Questions About Black Lives: Letter to the President
Dear Donald Trump,
It is 3am (GMT) this early Saturday morning, May 30, as I follow the events related to the nationwide protests that are currently being organized as a result of the brutal murder of George Floyd at the hands of his police officers.
Mr. President, certainly the scenes that ooze from downtown Atlanta are quite disturbing, as similar scenes take place in major cities in the United States of America. Truly, the land of the free and the home of the brave has not lived up to its bill of rights and freedom enshrined in the holy scrolls of the Declaration of Independence.
As I watch protesters attack CNN’s headquarters in Atlanta, I see the anger and frustration of the citizens of their great country across the political and racial divide, all clamoring for the justice that is promised in their nation’s philosophical checkbook. .
Poor me! What is happening in America right now would be strange only to those unaware of the prophecies of the late Martin Luther King Junior, who (57 years ago) boldly stated the inconvenient truth as follows:
“When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which all Americans would be heirs. This note was a promise that all men, yes, blacks also as men Whites (My Lord), would be guaranteed the inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Today it is obvious that the United States has defaulted on this promissory note as it pertains to its citizens of color. (My Lord) In Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, the United States has given Black people a bad check, a check that has been returned marked as insufficient funds. “
Donald, it is your misfortune that today (more than ever), the African race, is willing and willing to demand justice and equality. It falls within the period of his reign that the sons and daughters of the multitude solemnly assembled at the National Monument on that fateful day in 1963, when MLK delivered that historic speech, are ready and bold to demand that their federal reserves of justice honor that promissory note. and no force on earth can stop this movement.
You’ve been eccentric, provocative, and to some degree maliciously self-centered, but this is not the time to attempt any self-righteous mischief. He must rise to the occasion and answer the call for justice in the George Floyd affair. Your country yearns for leadership and has sadly failed to rise to the occasion amid your government’s chaotic approach to the current COVID-19 pandemic.
Now here comes another tragedy on your doorstep in search of the right combination of legal and sociological responses that would heal and reunify the United States of America. Will you answer this proverbial 3 a.m. phone call that former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton warned all presidential hopefuls about?
Whatever your answer to the above query, you’d better do a genuine soul-searching and extensive inquiry before accessing your Twitter account.
As I say goodbye, Mr. President, I refer you to a warning published in your office more than half a century ago; That mail was addressed to his office by no less an enlightened soul than the Rev. Pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, “the price America must pay for the continued oppression of blacks and other minority groups is the price of its own destruction. (Yes it is) Because the hour is late. And the clock of destiny is ticking. We must act now before it is too late. “
Please accept the assurances of my highest consideration and esteem.