The way the media in this country and others are so quick to immediately brand people as racists in this country needs to stop. Yes Derek Chauvin was a terrible cop and his actions were reprehensible that day he arrested George Floyd. I think the verdict was correct in the jury finding him guilty. He will get a chance to appeal just like every citizen has but I believe the charges will stand. The main question to me here is were his actions overtly racist or just inept? Would he have acted the same way had George Floyd been another color? Ultimately it doesn't matter. A life has been lost. It's a tragedy. The only person that can answer the racist question is Derek Chauvin himself. Even then, many will not accept his answer and have already made up their mind that he is a racist. In my nearly 40 years alive on this planet, I feel that the racial divide in America is as far apart now as I have ever witnessed it. I wasn't alive in the Jim Crow days in the South and am sure it was much worse then. But if you just turn on CNN or listen to elected officials in Washington talk, you would think that Jim Crow is alive and well today.
To be clear, I am not denying the existence of racism today. There are racist people today just as there were in the past. I think there will always be people with hate in their heart that discriminate against people who are different than them. No matter if its race, religion, sexuality, etc. The difference is our culture has changed such that these people are more demonized now then ever before in our county's history. This is a good thing. But to have the media and other leaders automatically assign "racism" as the root cause of everything in society is not helping.
In fact the very same day of the Chauvin trial verdict, there was an incident in Columbus Ohio where an officer killed a black female. Many people were quick to jump on the "racism" train again here without bothering to learn about the "facts". The facts were that she had a knife in her hand and was attacking another black female. We can discuss police reform and taser use etc. But to assign "racism" as a cause is ridiculous. They saved the other girl who was black from being stabbed. I feel for the girl's family, but cops have to make these types of in the moment decisions frequently. I'm sure if the cop had just stayed back and did nothing and the other girl died from being stabbed, they would be angry that they had not taken any action.
I think as a whole, our country needs to just take a deep breath and not be so quick to assign blame and judge others. This may sound hopelessly idealistic but I do think change may come. Living in "cancel culture" is not possible. Its only a matter of time before cancel culture will come for you on some mistake that you make. None of us are perfect humans. We must have hearts of forgiveness. Otherwise our differences will continue to divide us and we all will become more bitter.
