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TPJ (MA)'s avatar

The police seem not only determined to never take any casualties, they will barely even risk any casualties and instead shoot first, often to kill. That negative goal is actually one of the better explanations for their violence toward segments of the public. A worse case is that they are deliberately out to hunt people down. Dr R is right, America is waking up to the horrific role of lethal violence from the police. Yet a 5% increase in white support for BLM just seems pathetic compared what's needed. It's better than nothing, but hey, America, it's time to wake up and step up!! Fellow Americans are in mortal danger from having their legal rights violated. Memorial Day isn't just the traditional start of summer -- it's the start of the summer protest season!

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Rowshan Nemazee's avatar

Dear Prof. HCR,

Thank you for beginning with the extraordinary death of a very ordinary human being. Truth be told, neither I nor many other US citizens will ever forget the name of George Floyd. Like so many African Americans before and after him, George Perry Floyd, Jr. did not deserve to die, and certainly not in the manner in which his death was executed. No one deserves that manner of degradation -- no human being, no living being, merits the torture of being deprived of air for 9 minutes and 29 seconds for having passed a $20 counterfeit bill.

George Floyd lived, loved, and was loved. What gave callous, vainglorious Chauvin the right to use his whiteness as a weapon of misperceived justice? George Floyd may not have been a perfect man, but he was a living soul -- he deserved the chance to better himself, to fulfill his dream of seeing his children grow, graduate, marry, and have their own children -- to live through that very basic, very natural cycle of life. He was not given that opportunity because of racism and bigotry.

How much more racism and bigotry are we willing to witness before the final ENOUGH? Some southern states want to ban race theory from their classrooms in order to avoid teaching their children to hate their country -- what is more important, to be disappointed in your country or to despise and degrade other human beings because of the color of their skin? What kind of human beings do we want to send forth into the world?

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