By Jalen M. Benoit
While driving home from my grandmother’s house on Memorial Day weekend, I pulled over to the side of the road and broke down in tears. “Why does this still happen?” I thought. Memorial Day used to be a day where families gathered together to have a barbeque and celebrate those who lost their lives serving this country.
For me, this will always be the day that I watched George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, be murdered by a white police officer. This is something that will forever be engraved in my mind–a video of the day an innocent black man was publicly lynched but without a rope and instead with the knee of an officer of the law.
Now, I’d like to point out that I truly believe the majority of law enforcement officers do not act in such a corrupt and immoral way like those in this video.
However, I believe law enforcement allows for a loophole in the justice system. Upon putting on a uniform, each Minnesota Law Enforcement Officer accepts a Code of Conduct that features a section on ethics which states:
“I will never act officiously or permit personal feelings, prejudices, animosities or friendships to influence my decisions…I will enforce the law courteously and appropriately without fear of favor, malice or ill will, never employing unnecessary force or violence and never accepting gratuities.”
Yet, the actions of these police officers not only went against every fundamental ideal behind this Code of Ethics as police officers but as human beings; and during the process, another innocent black man lost his life. Forget the color of his skin for a moment, a loving wife is now a widow, a child will now grow up without a father, and a family is now scrambling for answers, mourning on a day where they should have been celebrating.
This recurring nightmare of the past is a problem of the future. This isn’t just about police violence towards people of color but all violence towards people of color and our ethics as American people.
Our actions are under a microscope for the whole world to see with actual video evidence showing the problems of society today – but when is it going to end?
Why is it that of the 1,099 people killed by police officers in 2019, African Americans were 24 percent of those killed despite being only 13 percent of the population (mappingpoliceviolence.org)?
Why is it that I’m able to talk about my rights when they are abused but people of color can’t without being stigmatized for it?
George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery deserve more than a hashtag. And these are only the names of those tragedies of the last few months; this list could go on and on and it scares me that it seems to keep growing with no sign of slowing down – if anything, speeding up. How many hashtags need to be created before we recognize that there is a problem here?
I won’t say that I understand what these men, women and children of color are going through and continue to go through every day. What I will say is that as much as we think we understand, the reality here is that I don’t think we possibly ever can; but I’d like to try because I refuse to sit idly by while my mailman and doctor, former coaches and coworkers, friends and family are threatened day in and day out.
I will never forget what I saw on May 25, and I will not sit in silence.
I cannot sleep at night knowing that this is the norm and these actions are allowed to go unpunished.
I cannot sleep at night knowing the reason for so much hate, violence and death in this country is based on the color of someone’s skin; not because of the content of their character.
People of color are protesting not as an overreaction or a sign of ignorance but as a symbol of the times – that the times we live in are unequal, unfair, and unjust.
Jalen Benoit is a 2016 Bristol Central graduate and a recent graduate of Franklin Pierce University with a degree in education.
Note to Our Readers: If you would like to participate in a forum, preferably online considering with are still dealing with Covid-19, please send an email to dfortier@bristoledition.org.