And then there was a big, collective sigh of relief as we heard the guilty verdict regarding all three charges against former Minnesota Police Officer, Derek Chauvin.
To celebrate the verdict is to be in tune with the human experience. It is to somehow bring validation to what we have been fighting for and speaking out against. To receive such a victory brings the dawning of a new day in justice. It is to serve somehow now as the case study or the preamble for the work that is ever before us. At some point in the future, our children and their children will ruffle through the pages of books outlining this moment in history; recounting the paranoia and anxiety that we just might feel defeated once again. To celebrate this verdict is to understand that folklore of Black folk is necessary to continue the truth of this story. It is somehow already understood that our joy will be whitewashed by the oppression of their systems and the ill-guided perspectives of their academy. To celebrate this victory is to be cognizant that we have hit a checkpoint and not a finish line.
Source: Republic World
As many of us move on beyond the hashtags and “go back outside,” I sit in wonder about taking this very real moment and spreading its beauty across the forefronts of our future. How can we mark this as history and allow it to be the catalyst that functions as the navigation toward freedom? George Floyd’s death and subsequent conviction of his murderer is not the atonement for the lives that lie before or after his. Floyd’s death is the precursor for a new day; a day that comes to awaken a reckoning that avoids silence, takes up tons of space, and sits as the consistent memorial that this is just the beginning.
As we all take the collective breath of relief, may we honor the final breath that got us here. May our work go beyond the proclivities of our social media behavior but move toward the disruption of culture for the betterment of humanity. That is what this moment serves as. This is a cultural disruption. A time where the status quo would not do. While many Black folks sat in disbelief about the truth of what transpired, it serves as the testament of what it means to be Black in America. There is little rest for the weary, and we find pockets of joy in the most unconventional spaces.
Now that we have taken that deep breath, to be Black in America means we inhale once again hoping for another shot at justice as a white woman faces criminal charges just miles down the road for a set of similar circumstances. But for now, for this microcosm in time, we celebrate. We push forward. We stay Black and full of joy.
Ashe and Amen.