COVID & Murder In Minneapolis
By D. S. Mitchell
Grasping At Sanity
I hadn’t known, until I stayed home that the mailman stopped at my mailbox everyday at 11:30, like clockwork. Never before did I start planning dinner at breakfast time, but, I do now. I wash my hands at least twelve times a day, once for every hour I’m awake, unless I have to go out, or I get a delivery, then I hand wash compulsively every five minutes for at least an hour. Sometimes, I wonder how long I can hold onto my sanity.
Vacant Streets
The strange thing about the COVID-19 pandemic has been the quietness of the streets. The 24 hour buzz of the busy freeways is gone. The roads have been almost vacant. Not in a post-apocalyptic sense, but certainly a sense of disturbing, quiet unfamiliarity. There is, however, an awareness of danger. A danger lurking on every surface and every person. The danger, although invisible, has been scary enough to have people locked down in their homes, until Monday, May 25th.
Silent Killer
Someone called it, a “willing paralysis.” I’m not sure what to call it. Physical contact with another person could be a death sentence. The bullet, nothing more than a cough. As we have social distanced, we have heard new sounds. The sound of chirping birds. The sound of a singular child bouncing a ball against a wall. A neighbor, whom I’ve never met, playing his acoustic guitar, like a resurrected Michael Hedges. Not all killers are silent, or invisible. Some are intentionally visible and they kill with impunity for the camera. And now our country hears a new sound. A cry, a great and powerful cry.
A Cry Heard Across The Globe
The cry has come from a place nearly 2,000 miles from my home. But, I heard it, as if it came from the next room. Did I hear it so clearly, because of the COVID-19 quiet? Or, was it heard because the pain was so great. On May 25, 2020, the murder of George Floyd, an African-American man, occurred in Powderhorn, a neighborhood south of downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. And now it seems the pain of that cry, has been heard as far away as London, and Berlin. My God, no matter your color, or your age, it hurt to the core. Some pain brings with it intense rage.
I Can’t Breathe
How can I forget I saw a Black man murdered on an American street? Mr. Floyd lost his life, laying face down on the pavement. His life was casually and callously extinguished, by a depraved man who was wearing a badge. It happened in broad daylight. The dying man called out, more than once, for his long dead mother to help him. He called out, “I can’t breathe.” It was all streamed live on television, over and over. As the tears rolled down my cheeks, I said softly, “I can’t breathe.” “I can’t breathe.”
Protests Become Riots
We now have people around the country screaming in unison, “I can’t breathe.” Peaceful protesters demanding structural change have hit the streets in every major city in the United States. Institutionalized racism has existed for 400 years in this country. COVID-19 has magnified the inequality, with nearly 40 million people unemployed. Racial inequality and social injustice has been growing in America, since the election of Donald Trump. While the country is suffering, a demented president tweets racial insanity, inciting division and encouraging violence. This is a moment that calls for human decency.
Say Their Names
COVID anxiety and isolation, soaring unemployment, and continuing uncertainty collide with three high profile killings. In the last three months, three African Americans, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery have been killed. The killings have enraged people of conscience across America, and the world. Tempers have flared and lit a fire on the streets of America. The furor of protesters has happened during the middle of a pandemic. Medical experts fear the pandemic will only grow out of control as more people come into close contact for hours at a time, side by time, screaming and shouting, many without masks. But the protests go on, undeterred by the silent killer of over 100,000 Americans.
Two Different Groups
Lets make it clear, there a two systems of justice in America. There is justice for white people, and there is justice for people of color. There are also two types of protesters. Those that have come out during the daytime are carrying signs, wearing T- shirts with the face of George Floyd, chanting, “I can’t breathe,” and “What’s my name?” It’s obvious people are angry, but they maintain decent behavior.
Faces Of The Night
Then there are those who come out at night. These people join the crowds, but they are different, they come with backpacks, sledgehammers, bricks and igniters. The nighttime protesters have come with a different mission. They are vandals, looters and fire starters. They have come to cause civil unrest, disruption and damage. Most importantly they are there to change the discussion. The night is filled with Right wing supported hate-groups like Boogaloo Boys, QAnon, and Proud Boys. These groups, these outside agitators, are there to intensify racial hatred and encourage vicious police response. All to exploit the situation. Their stated goal, a race war.
