What Are We Gonna Do?

George Floyd

I follow Leslie Jones on Instagram. I love Leslie. We were born hours apart, she on September 7, and I, on September 8, 1967. Her posts usually make me laugh. Not this week. This week Leslie is posting about the killing of George Floyd, a black man killed by a white Minneapolis policeman, Derek Chauvin. Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck for seven minutes while bystanders protested, telling him that Floyd was not moving. According to the paramedics’ report, Floyd died at the scene. Leslie asked “What the fuck are we gonna do?”

What are we gonna to do? How can we allow this to become another incident that follows a 24-hour news cycle and is then forgotten? My godmother sent me this text, a stark reminder that George Floyd is not alone:

I have privilege as a white person because I can do all of these things without thinking twice about it… CONTINUE READING