The First 60 Seconds

Scrolling through Facebook I came across an old Oprah video of a women talking about her position on the Rodney King beating. Her excuse for why she couldn't condemn the wrongdoing of the officers, was she hadn't seen the first 60 seconds of the video. It was as though the history of what has happened since videos were within easy reach had played out. Common excuses had been used, not seeing the first 60 seconds, not being there, and the most favored one being they had a warrant for their arrest. Yet, without failure these excuses have played major roles in convincing a jury to sway their convictions. Until the day came that crisp videos became at the fingertips of everyone. No longer the excuse of a faulty body cam can be used as every eye on the street now holds a recored of every misstep and deed. While it ended up in the favor for George Floyd, whose last words were recorded on a phone by a teen girl who held grown men accountable, it hasn't been so common in the past. Breonna Taylor didn't have any whitenesses to her murder, no one was in her room recording the video. Even when evidence mounted itself against those to blame, the excuse that played was, her ex-boyfriend had a warrant. These excuses are easy to say and easy to spread through social media telling a different story. How can anyone be certain that what they saw and are reading is in fact the true story?

I opened the conversation with two different social groups that I am a part of, the first being my roommates in the millennial social group, and my family many of whom are baby boomers and older from the south. I questioned them about George Floyd, going in with the expectation that my roommates will echo the news, and my family will echo a safe response. For some background on my family, I am biracial and was adopted into a all white family. As for my roommates, one is black and one is hispanic, both are early twenties and tend to be open minded. When I brought the question of, "Did the George Floyd video hold enough evidence to get a conviction, or should there be more evidence?" They both immediately looked at me as though I had gone mad, they both asked if I had seen the same video they had. Which opened up the discussion should Floyd's past drug use be used as a sound excuse for how things were handled. It was as though my questions were seen as obvious answers, only a idiot would see those as plausible excuses. However, that night ended with the dawning knowledge that at the time, there would be no justice like the countless other cases beforehand.

I then turned towards my family and asked very similar questions, however at this point the video had been widespread all across all the social media platforms. Something that shined hope on gaining more support from everyone in the nation to this case. But I was surprised when I saw the posts that my great aunt posted on Facebook, she was proud to back the blue. Now I am very much all for supporting good people in the world, but there is a difference between backing a corporation, and supporting the murder of someone. In her case unfortunately she supported the murder side, her reasoning like many others in my family were that he was a drugged out threat to society. This saddened me and made me feel scared not because it was something so many were willing to post so openly their hatred and mistrust of a certain profile, but because it was a family member. She used the same excuse so many had, that it was a necessary course of action. Although the most disgusting excuse I heard was from my mother over the phone. She said it was sad what had happened to him, but if he was doing a lot of talking for someone who couldn't breathe. So to hide her bias she simply resorted to the claim that many said in order to hide their inner bias. She blamed it on the media, stating that they didn't show enough of the context of the video, they didn't show how he was behaving before the cops showed up. Maybe it is my forward liberal thinking that apparently everyone who said murder is wrong has, but I believe murder doesn't need a context.

Fortunately for George Floyd his case wasn't ignored it was just slow moving, but resulted in justice being promptly served. However, before it had been a young boy got shot point blank, with the excuse of the gun being mistaken for a taser. Daunte Wright was a young boy who was only supposed to go home, but had gotten pulled over and shot. This time I didn't even bother asking my family how they felt around the tragedy. I already knew, I just had to log in to Facebook and I could see for myself. The undying support and ignorance, it was spread across my timeline, the posters sharing the same last name as mine. The support for a corporation in which one can no longer be able to call them out when a mistake is made is overwhelming irresponsibility. It shouldn't be down to the videos that someone takes on their personal phone to be able to determine that a death was a murder. People should feel as though their support for a organization should also mean accountability of when lines are crossed, and when problems need to be fixed. There shouldn't be anymore excuses such as "we didn't see the first 60 seconds."