Memorial Day
I’m really going to have to stay on top of these blog posts if I want them to be timely. The evening after my last Monday livestream show (for now), George Floyd was murdered in my home state of Minnesota by a police officer. I suppose it is fitting that “The Dead Still Speak” was one of the last songs I played that day. So they do. Memorial Day is forever changed in the United States.
I wonder what George Floyd was doing that afternoon in Minneapolis while I was playing my songs for people via the internet. He was alive, we know that much. He was breathing. And at some point he want to the grocery store to get some food. The innocuous simplicity of this act has been been lost in the chaos that ensued. He went to the grocery store and he was murdered. Twenty dollars.
I have not watched the video. I have seen enough of those videos. There is a murder porn element to it that makes me uncomfortable. Why am I watching this? Why are we all watching this?
"Kueng held Mr. Floyd's back and Lane held his legs," the probable cause statement said. "Chauvin placed his left knee in the area of Mr. Floyd's head and neck. Mr. Floyd said, 'I can't breathe' multiple times and repeatedly said, 'Mama' and 'please,' as well. Chauvin and the other two officers stayed in their positions."
Floyd also says, "I'm through," and repeatedly cries out in anguish, the video shows.
"My stomach hurts. My neck hurts. Everything hurts. I need some water or something, please. Please," he says.
He tells the witnesses, "They're going to kill me, man," and then to the officers, "Don't kill me." Thao stands between the witnesses and the officers holding down Floyd.
I consider myself a pacifist. The cycle of violence never ends unless someone ends it. Someone has to turn the other cheek. I wrote my friend a letter the week after 9/11 saying the correct move for the United States was to seize the moment and call for peace. To not respond with military force. As the great, late Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone said: it would not be a sign of our power, but it would be a sign of our strength.
In the last week, however, I can feel that pacifism dimming. Is it naive? As long as men and women armed with military weaponry patrol the streets of this country, murdering and terrorizing American citizens, is peace is an option? If violence is the only language they understand, must they be met with violence? Unyielding, relentless violence?
Monday Residency // 5.25.20 Before We Fall Asleep / Caveman / The Girl Next Door / The Freefall (Cory Branan cover) / Never Should’ve Left / Grandpa / You Better Believe Somebody / The Dead Still Speak / I Love Austin / If I Go, I’m Goin’ / Monogamous / Are You Still In Love With The World? (Raina Rose cover) / The Ballad of Wallace Green & His Dog / Concerning the Lincoln and Douglas Debates or Love Found Lost / If You See Something, Say Something / Time (Tom Waits cover)