Artistry, I suspect, will forever remain the closest mankind can come to producing a genuine window to the soul. It’s almost as if artistic expression exists as a thin, partially distinct layer which envelops every aspect of our lives. Wherever we stand, and whatever we do, art is there to bolster our worldview. Think about it – it’s a part of everything.
When a nation is freshly born, it needs one thing as much as any other to retain its coherency: a flag with a brilliant design.
When companies begin to realize their designs of global conquest, their most recognizable aesthetic, their logo, is honored and protected at all cost.
When revolution spreads in the street, block by block, and by heart and mind, what spreads inevitably in its wake is street art. Graffiti. Imagine what this portends for the legacy of George Floyd?
It’s Not All About Him
Perhaps it’s a paradox, but it rings true. Even as Floyd’s face is sprayed across swaths of dim, bare concrete in alleyways and enormous walls of stolid red brick in quiet, empty parking lots, it’s a fact that I know to be true. George was merely the straw that broke the camel’s back. The knee pressing life out of a redundantly restrained man accused of a petty white-collar impropriety for eight minutes consecutively? It was a flash-point.
Millions of people in Minneapolis, in America, and in homes where love still flares bright enough to abate the shadows of hate, of brazen injustice, and of apathetic corruption. That’s who is protesting every day they can, months after the murder took place. And why wouldn’t this sentiment spread like wildfire across the continents? How long can we reasonably expect to exist before another identical abuse of power occurs? It seems like new footage is popping up twenty four hours a day. Crystal-clear video of members of law enforcement communities imposing themselves past their recognized capacity to do so.
I’ll be blunt. As long as those who perform their jobs correctly, and make no mistake, many of them are heroes, but as long as those who do actually serve their communities in honor of their oaths do not work harder to reign in those who spiral out of control more and more as time passes, they will not have much of my respect or sympathy either. Putting your life on the line for the public does not even come close to invalidating the concerns raised throughout the year 2020.
Why must the culture of qualified immunity persist so tangibly? For when police officers are indeed found to have violated the rights of citizens, it is the same violated public which must pony up the funds to vindicate the victims. Think about – how much does a proven victim have to contribute in taxes to secure their own justice, from a figure for whose salary he or she already pays? Should the officer who has transgressed not be held more accountable? I won’t weep for a criminal who finds himself roughed up in the course of a violent encounter with the police. But violence delivered by the authorities is NOT unlimited in its scope.
Perhaps, as we tend to do as a nation, we have focused so inwardly on our own struggles that the abuses doled out by blank-faced authoritative degenerates worldwide have largely escaped our grasp. But the world at large has always paid some degree of attention to us, whether they’d prefer it or otherwise. It seems now that we’ve set their consciences ablaze, and they’re letting us know about it.
It can be assumed that spray painting George Floyd’s image on streets in multiple countries is a sign of solidarity with his surviving loved ones. A community of murals has sprung up as the struggle of the deceased continues to reverberate. But it’s more than that. It’s also a sign that people everywhere won’t take it anymore.
It’s no secret that the public’s impression of the police has take a dip in the past few months. It’s difficult for most to admit their failings, but that sympathy has a limit. Law enforcement professionals need to understand. Jumping on a cross and victimizing yourself will not defuse burgeoning anti-cop sentiment. The fact is, you’re held to a higher standard than any common citizen. You are called on to exceed the law as necessary to protect the innocent. You are also called on to not exceed the law when unnecessary. This is a monumental task to ask of a human being, but you are not entitled to the attempt. You serve the public, and they are dedicating their time, their effort, and their artistic integrity to grab your attention and demand change. Pay attention and listen up.
The people are more entitled to that change than you are to your chosen career. I am not advocating for significant de-funding of the police. They are a lynchpin of civilization, and cannot conceptually be replaced. But their protocols can and, God willing, will change.
They’ll keep most of their opinions to themselves in public, but this growing assembly of street art dedicated to George Floyd is definitely infuriating and sickening to a considerable number of people. If you want it to stop, give the people being crushed everyday without due cause a reason to stop.