I Can’t Breath – George Floyd

At the time of writing this article, many cities in the United States have been put into curfew in view of the dire situation created by protests for Floyd.

Floyd, an African American, was being charged for using a counterfeit $20 bill. Allegedly, he resisted when Chauvin knelt him down. For 8 long minutes and 46 seconds, Floyd kept on pleading that he couldn’t breathe, but Chauvin kept him on the ground under his knee. Even after 6 minutes, when Floyd became unresponsive and Chauvin was told to move, he kept his knee on Floyd’s neck, just the same, for another two long minutes. 8 minutes and 46 seconds, they must have been the longest and the brutalist 8 minutes and 46 seconds of Floyd’s life.

The video of the barbarianism not only shook the African Americans, but all the races and nations around the world are moved by this racist and violent act of uniformed vandalism. The monsters locked in the closets seem very real, once again. The emancipation proclamation of Lincoln, 1863, and the 100 following years of police brutality, and unearned suffering have come to life again. Dr. King’s struggle has yet to find resolve, it seems. But one cannot remain unappalled by the way the situation is unfolding in America.

When Sahiwal or Model Town happens here in Pakistan, we rarely see anything more than a trend on twitter, some keyboard and remote movements. But in the United States, where media and social media are rather more vibrant and powerful than Pakistan, people don’t just sit at their homes and tweet about issues, they come out to have a say, to raise a voice, to lend a hand, and to stand by right.

Many have come out on the street to raise their voice for Floyd. Cars and walls are being painted “I can’t breathe.” The situation is out of control. On the 29th of May, when protestors gathered before the White House, master Trump tweeted the following morning a threat to the protestors. Trump said, “If they [the protestors] had [come close to breaching the fence], they would have been greeted with the most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons, I have ever seen.” One cannot help but wonder, why keep vicious dogs in the White House, when you have President Donald Trump in the house.

  I can't breathe placard during a vigil for George Floyd held in Pennsylvania.

What I intend to say is, when there is an elected president in the White House, and protestors have come, he should listen to them, and resolve their issues, instead of unleashing his dogs onto them. This attitude only means either Trump didn’t consider protestors to be potential voters, or he didn’t think he was an elected POTUS. This writer for one is baffled by Trump’s tweet and has no understanding of his viewpoint, whatsoever.

Floyd’s murder also invoked another hashtag, or movement, if I may say, #raisethedegree. Chauvin has been charged with 3rd-degree murder, meaning, manslaughter – a kind of murder that is not pre-meditated and occurs due to heat of the moment. 1st-degree murder on the other hand means a premeditated murder. One must commend the US citizens to be so minutely sensitive about wrongdoings, about tyranny, and vandalism.

It is not less than mind-boggling that Pakistan has also been ruled by insensitive rulers. Police here have also been inhumane and still is. Kids in the Sahiwal incident must have pleaded, we can’t breathe, our parents are suffocating, please don’t shoot more bullets uncle. Unborn child of the Model Town pregnant killed woman must have also suffocated to death. Innocent special people die here by torture, too. US may have got Trump for the first time in history; we have been facing such souls for ages. But why don’t people come out for such Floyds here? Why don't we talk about public rights in our assemblies? Why don't people come out when mothers and daughters cry in search of fathers and brothers? What is the matter that when even the corpses of the people are not found by the relatives, our young generation cannot get out of Twitter?

People keep talking about how the US is differently ruled as compared to Pakistan. The recent past has only shown that both the countries are ruled by the same kind of rulers; it is the people that are rather different in these countries. Humanity is somewhat diminishing here, at a very fast pace.

George Floyd’s murder is highly condemnable, but it is not new for the people of Kashmir or the Muslims of India. They are vandalized and vehemently brutalized with unearned suffering on a daily basis. And they have been facing such for 70 long years. Hundreds of Georg Floyds are killed in Kashmir, and videos get viral, too. Muslims in India are regularly beaten to death and filmed. And this is done by the same racist mindset that killed Floyd. Alas, our honor is only confined to killing our women. Our honor is not honorable enough to stand for the oppressed.

Author: Usama Khalid