THIS HAS TO END!

“I can’t breathe … I can’t breathe.”

These were the final, futile words of George Floyd, a black man who died begging with a white police officer, after the officer had gotten Floyd to the ground and placed his knee and the full weight of his body on Floyd's neck for EIGHT STRAIGHT MINUTES after a traffic stop in Minneapolis this week. 

Even after Floyd’s body had gone limp and bystanders were pleading with the officers to stop and call an ambulance, the officer, identified as Derek Chauvin, would not relent. It all started when officers were called to the area for a report of an alleged forgery in progress and it ended with Floyd dead.

The video is heartbreaking and sickening and is eerily similar to an incident in 2014, also caught on video, when a host of New York City cops tackled and used an illegal chokehold on Eric Garner, whose last words were “I can’t breathe.” In that video, Garner, whose death was ruled a homicide by strangulation, said, “I can’t breathe” 11 times but to no avail. What was Garner accused of? Allegedly selling loose cigarettes.

If either one of these videos doesn’t make you feel like throwing up, then maybe you shouldn’t read this column anymore. Because as human beings, we should all be outraged. Because once again, it feels like it’s open season on African Americans. And I don’t want to hear the old refrain of “Well, if he would have just listened to the police he would be alive.” That thinking is motivated from a specific cultural point of view that doesn’t apply to people of color.

The four officers involved in the incident were fired, the FBI is now investigating and Chauvin finally was arrested Friday. The Minnesota Catholic Conference called Floyd’s death a “tragedy” and the video “appalling.” Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda, of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, called the video ‘gut wrenching.”

“The video of George Floyd in police custody …  is gut wrenching and deeply disturbing. The sadness and pain are intense. Let us pray for comfort for his grieving family and friends, peace for a hurting community and prudence while the process moves forward. We need a full investigation that results in rightful accountability and veritable justice,” Archbishop Hebda said.

“Particularly at this time when human fragility has been brought into focus by the COVID-19 pandemic, we are called to respect the worth and dignity of each individual, whether they be civilians in need of protection or law enforcement officers charged with providing that protection. All human life is sacred. Please join our Catholic community in praying for George Floyd and his family, and working for that day when ‘love and truth will meet (and) justice and peace will kiss.’” (Psalm 85).

It is also not safe to go jogging if you are a black man, apparently. Ahmaud Arbery, who was out jogging in Georgia, was hunted down by two white men who instigated a fight with Arbery and then shot and killed him. For months, until the video — just imagine if there was no video of these heinous acts — caught fire on social media, no criminal charges were brought against the men, who thought Arbery looked like a man suspected of robbery. Three men have now been charged with felony murder in the case. 

Or bird watching in New York’s Central Park. Christian Cooper, a black man, calmly told Amy Cooper she needed to put a leash on her dog, as per the rules of the park. Amy Cooper then called 911 saying, “There’s an African American man threatening my life.” After Christian Cooper put the video on social media, which clearly showed the opposite, Amy Cooper was fired from her job. 

And let’s not forget that COVID-19 has also had a staggering effect on African American men and women. According to the non-partisan APM research lab, “The mortality rate for black Americans is 2.4 times as high as the rate for whites and 2.2 times as high as the rate for Asians and Latinos,” according to their paper “Color of Coronavirus.” For example, the statistics in the report show, in New York State, African Americans make up 14 percent of the population but account for 26 percent of the deaths; in Kansas, African Americans are seven times as likely to die from coronavirus than whites. Minority-owned businesses have mostly been shut out of the government loans as well during the pandemic, according to multiple reports.

I remember when certain people used to talk about the United States being in a “post-racial society.” This would signify a time when there was no racial inequality or discrimination, and was usually brought up when someone was railing against affirmative action. Just a point of fact, we never were and we never will be. Not in my lifetime. We are more fractured along racial lines than ever. Most of the corrosive hate is spewed on Twitter, Facebook and nefarious chat rooms, but has been more visible and brazen in public.

So what should we do as Catholics? You should be angry and we should peacefully protest. In a Catholic News Service article, Father Erich Rutten, the white pastor of St. Paul’s (Minn.) historically black Catholic church called on “his parishioners ‘to agitate’ their community, Church and world for racial justice and healing.”

Join your parish’s Social Justice Ministry. If they don’t have one, start one.

Pax Christi USA, the national Catholic Peace Movement, said in a statement, “The racism that is at the heart of these incidents penetrates every aspect of  life in the United States, seeding the terror that threatens communities of color and disfigures all our humanity.  … Pope John Paul II called racism ‘the most persistent and destructive evil of the nation." As Catholics, it is not enough to relegate our concern to words, thoughts, and prayers. Our church, at every level, must speak out boldly and unequivocally against the sin of racism. 

“This is especially true for white Catholics who, because of their privilege, are afforded a safe distance from the despair and agony that communities of color experience in moments like this. None of us can stand for this any longer.”

I recommend reading, “Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love — A Pastoral Letter Against Racism,” released by the United State Catholic Conference of Bishops in 2018. The letter is one of many resources on the USCCB website.

"Racism still profoundly affects our culture, and it has no place in the Christian heart,” the letter states. “This evil causes great harm to its victims, and it corrupts the souls of those who harbor racist or prejudicial thoughts."

Watch the powerful sermon titled, "The Cross and the Lynching Tree: A Requiem for Ahmaud Arbery,” by Chicago pastor Rev. Otis Moss III, which was recommended by the Dominican Sisters in the CNS article.

Most importantly, take a long look at yourself. Are you doing all you can to stamp out racism in your community, state and country? I know I can do more. We all have to do more. It is way past time. After all, as Father Rutten said, “We are all brothers and sisters."