(TheRedWire.com) – The Civil Rights era of the 1960s was all about inclusion and equality. However, in recent years, it devolved into something very different. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, “hate is too great a burden to bear.” He called for forgiveness and said anyone “devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love.”
In the wake of George Floyd’s death and the subsequent arrest and conviction of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in Floyd’s murder, some in the Black community have pursued a different path than Martin Luther King Jr. As a result, it appears that if you’re a White person who wants to pay respects to Floyd, there are conditions to meet and rules to follow.
Sign at Floyd’s Memorial Dictates Rules for White People
Shortly after his passing, mourners converted the intersection of E. 38th Street and Chicago Avenue into a memorial and autonomous zone that’s seen record levels of violent crimes. Renamed George Floyd Square, there are special rules explicitly directed to you if you’re White and choose to pay your respects.
A welcoming board at the location of Floyd’s passing clearly sets different standards and expectations for White people as opposed to people of color. The tone is more patronizing than it is welcoming. The first call is for White people to “decenter” themselves. Perhaps that’s a mandate for White people to act like second-class citizens and only speak when spoken to while at the site.
Walking into George Floyd Square pic.twitter.com/jIDzBNicVw
— Jorge Ventura Media (@VenturaReport) April 21, 2021
Additionally, while the space is public, photography or video are discouraged according to the rule-makers. However, federal courts ruled that there is no expectation of privacy in a public square. People are free to take pictures and videos of whatever and whomever they want. That doesn’t seem to matter to those who created and enforce the rules that state White people should consider whether it’s appropriate or necessary to take and post pictures and should seek permission from other individuals before snapping shots of them.
The welcoming board also asks White people to police their own if someone says or does “problematic things.” The reason: Founders ask Whites to take the “burden off of Black folks and our siblings of color.”
What’s going on at Floyd Square is not the fulfillment of the Civil Rights era. Let’s hope that this time, America can forge a new future of mutual respect for one another regardless of skin color.
Copyright 2021, TheRedWire.com
