Even in the midst of a pandemic, life goes on. Unfortunately, that also means that hateful behavior also goes on. Over the course of the last few months, there have been three incidents that require us to consider how and why people hurt one another because of their race.
The first incident involved Georgia resident Ahmaud Arbery. He was shot and killed by a father and his adult son while jogging. The shooters thought Arbery looked like someone accused of theft in their neighborhood. A third man filmed the incident and has since been arrested for his role in trying to detain Arbery with his vehicle.
The second incident involved George Floyd, a resident of Minnesota. He was accused of forgery, arrested, and handcuffed by police. While lying on the ground next to the police car, Floyd was suffocated by a police officer kneeling on his neck. Video from the scene shows that Floyd and onlookers begged for his life because he could not breathe. Sadly, this case harkens back to the killing of Eric Garner by a police officer in 2014.
The third incident involved New Yorker and avid bird watcher Christian Cooper. He was in Central Park in an area that requires that dogs be leashed. A woman was letting her dog run off-leash, so he asked her to put her dog on a leash. That’s it. Her response was to call the police and report that Cooper was threatening her life. The video that Cooper took at the scene clearly shows no threats were made. What does each of these incidents have in common? All the victims were African-American. All the perpetrators were White. All the incidents point to a persistent and disturbing undercurrent in our society.
