I thank God for Darnella Frazier, a brave bystander who did the right thing. She obeyed a voice within her that said RECORD the torture of George Floyd and the inhumanity of an American police officer. She knew the torture could turn deadly.
Darnella was an eyewitness recording the crime of murder in real-time. To say the video is disturbing and difficult to watch is a gross understatement.
In one of Sandra Bland’s Facebook posts, she said, “This thing that I’m holding in my hand, this telephone, this camera, it’s quite powerful. Social media is powerful. We can do something with this. If we want to change, we can really truly make it happen.”
Sandra wasn’t talking about using cell phones for neighborhood watch; she was talking about police watching. She knew citizens could and should pull out their cell phones and video police brutality and unnecessary lethal force against blacks. These ‘catch-them-in-the-act videos could be a springboard for policing accountability, justice, and real changes.
It is nothing for cell phone videos to go viral on social media. Videos of dishonorable, white police officers assaulting or killing unarmed black citizens can be viewed by the world. These videos garner millions of views and go viral in a short time.
What happened to George Floyd was heinous.
A bystander captured portions of Sandra Bland’s unjustified brutal takedown by a white state trooper and posted it online. Three days later, Sandra died in police custody in cell 95 of the Waller County Jail in Prairie View, Texas. Hashtag, what happened to Sand Brand (#whathappenedtosandrabland)? Will the world ever know?
Read my book, Sandra Bland 2.0: Racist Policing in America.
When I think about blacks’ struggles for equality and justice in America. I think about one of the anthems of the civil rights movement, ‘A Change is Gonna Come.’ Sam Cooke felt and tasted injustice, but he never lost hope.
My grandmother, born around 1890, knew a lot about injustice. She never told me why sometimes she yelled, ‘Hey white folks!’ with a look of disdain and fear in her near blinded eyes.
Injustice hasn’t missed a generation in my family. With systemic racism in American, I’m hoping and praying that my grandchildren will be an exception.
Yes, ‘A Change is Gonna Come.’
On May 26. 2020, Darnella Frazier posted the tragic, captured-on-video killing of George Floyd by a white police officer. Floyd’s pleas for air, “Mr. officer, I can’t breathe,” fell on death ears. And recording cameras, cries, and mercy pleadings from horrified bystanders couldn’t stop the murder right before their eyes. All Darnella, a seventeen-year-old, could do was keep recording.
George Floyd died pinned between the unforgiving concrete and the knee of Derek Chauvin.
Darnella posted the video that included George Floyd’s last breath. With his hands in his pockets, Derek Chauvin sat on Floyd’s neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds. Sporting his shades atop his head, Chauvin’s split-second decision turned into 569 seconds.
He held court on Floyd’s neck, rendered him guilty, and took his life.
I believe that Georg Floyd’s homicide will bring about changes in America’s policing culture.
Thanks, Darnella Frazier, for doing the courageous thing.
A video is worth a million words.
A video can lead to justice.
Derek Chauvin was convicted of murder. Thank God for the video and the testimony of so many, including Darnella.
There must be changes in American policing!
Be safe.