One Year On: How George Floyd's Murder Changed The World

     The third wave of justice for black Americans is here. While the fight has never died, there were two previous instances of major progress made in American history: in the 1800s, slaves shed the shackles of forced labor and torture and demanded the right to be treated with basic dignity entitled to human beings. In the 1900s, leaders like Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr., and John Lewis demanded the basic rights that came with being Americans. In the 21st century, a growing tide of black people are uniting with the usual white people and facing the usual pushback among the majority of whites in the demand for full and total equality.

     George Floyd's daughter, Gianna, showed wisdom beyond her years when she said, "Daddy changed the world." While police shootings have been occurring for decades, 2020 was THE moment in American history when Americans decided enough was enough and took to the streets by millions. It was the Emancipation Proclamation, March on Washington moment, and Donald Trump's decided intolerance of peaceful protest will tear his legacy apart more than most voters today likely suspect (take Andrew Johnson and Richard Nixon as examples). George Floyd's murder was the impetus for this movement.

     Since then, Derek Chauvin has gone to prison, and lawmakers at the state and federal level have begun to take baby steps on police reform, abolishing police bills of rights and qualified immunity while banning the most egregious practices in states like New Jersey, Maryland, New Mexico, Virginia, Connecticut, Minnesota, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania. Hundreds of millions of dollars in civil litigation has been pursued for the families of victims, and the Minneapolis Police Department and Louisville Police Department are both under a comprehensive investigation of decades of systemic racism and abuse (this in itself would be enough of a legacy for any one person to be proud of). With a president who cares, we have a chance to pass the George Floyd Justice In Policing Act and the Emmett Till Antilynching Act.

     Emmett Till Antilynching Act? Yes, because it is about more than just policing. Full equality in the criminal justice system, in sporting, in housing, in employment, and in every other aspect of life. This needs to be George Floyd's legacy. April 20th, 2021, and May 25th, 2020, need to go down in history not as endings, but as new beginnings.