Reader outraged over killing of Floyd

To the editor:

I am still outraged and disturbed by the killing of George Floyd by the police officer’s knee planted into his neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. Before I could get through writing about George Floyd -- Breaking News came. Police shot and killed a black man running away from police with his taser. I watched the tape and said to myself, LORD, what is going on, so many black men being killed by police for no sound reason.

I believe there is something bigger than racism going on here, it is too much of it. God allows or permits all things to happen and only He knows the true answer. My answer would be racism and power over another person. “The answer is blowin’ in the wind.”

There were bystanders who were crying out and pleaded for George’s life as the officer choked Floyd to death in broad daylight. George was crying out and pleading, ‘I can’t breathe’. George even started calling for his mother for help, but his mother has been dead for two years. You see this when one is dying.

When the football players were kneeling during the game most Americans didn’t understand what this was all about. My daddy has told me, if you don’t know the answer to something, ask around until you get the answer. The NFL Commissioner said that he was wrong for not understanding the kneeling, now I know, Black Lives Matter. There is something boiling up in the hearts of people, called justice. There is a Love Train running all over the world and it’s picking up passengers, you need no ticket, just get on board.

NASCAR said the confederate flag will no longer be allowed at races or displayed at any NASCAR properties. If NASCAR can have a change of heart, so can you.

I joined the NAACP in 1963. Since that time, I was instrumental in changing at large voting, to the Ward Voting system. I was instrumental in redistricting District 38, so African Americans could have representation, and other Civil Rights issues. I got involved because I knew every born again Christian should have a yearning for peace and be willing to help those who are pressed down. The Civil Rights movement in the 60s was an effort by Black Americans to end racial discrimination and gain equal rights under the law. I am old enough to remember the protesting in the streets for justice. I can remember the sit-ins, the police beating, and discrimination in all forms.

When the Civil Rights Act was signed into law in 1964, there were  violators of the law, still discriminations. The law meant nothing when it came to African Americans. The George Floyd killing sparked a movement that we have never seen in the history of America. We see whites and blacks joining together to protest racism and brutality by police. The world is fed up with racism and police brutality. People poured into the streets demanding justice.

There were 50 countries that protested in the name of justice. There were 600 cities and towns in all 50 U.S. States. God will send warnings before destruction. Micah, God’s Prophet, warned the leaders of Israel’s government leaders, priests, and business leaders, you have turned your hearts from God’s will. Micah said that they were socially and spiritually corrupt.

They had been given God’s covenant law and were supposed to be examples of righteous behavior for all those around them. The Prophet uses the image of cannibalism to describe how the leaders feed off those they are called to protect. When one reads this, it seems that the Prophet is laying the blame of the nation solely at the feet of the leaders.

This was a warning by God, to stop your ways. So you would wonder, if the Black man was freed from slavery by the Republican North, how were the African Americans returned back into slavery (Jim Crow Laws)?

Now here is the deal. The presidential election of 1876 resulted in a deadlock between Republican Rutherford B. Hayes and Democrat Samuel J. Tilden. There was a backroom deal made between Congress and the Supreme Court brokering a compromise -- within two months of taking office, President Hays took action to end the federal troops' role in Southern politics,meaning you make up your own laws. You see the Democrats agreed that Rutherford B. Hays would become president in exchange for the withdrawal of federal troops from the South and granting of home rule in the South. This ending the Reconstruction Era and issuing in the system of Jim Crow Laws that lasted for over 100 years.

The Confederate flag was designed to represent a divided nation. It was flown during the Civil War, when 11 states broke from the nation to defend the practice of slavery. Thank God that the Jim Crow laws are eradicated. Under the Jim Crow laws, any white mob could hang a black person for any reason, not only hang him, but burn him hanging and nothing would be done about it. The whole deal was the Republican President Hayes loved being President more than protecting the free sales. This is why we see racism and police brutality and discrimination alive today. It seems like African Americans are fighting on two fronts: The deadly COVID-19 is killing more blacks in proportion to whites. The deadly police is killing more blacks in proportion to whites. This is so perplexing.

African Americans have not truly been freed. During the Reconstruction when blacks had made progress, it was erased with the Compromise of 1877.

One may escape man’s law, but there is a greater law you won’t escape.

Yes, “BLACK LIVES MATTER.”

May GOD continue blessing America.

— Elder Albert Veasley,

Osceola