Friday, June Nineteenth, 2020
My Dear America:
We have been through some difficult times lately.
In the middle of a Dangerous Pandemic we have seen an Incredible National and eventually Worldwide Movement result from the lonesome Videotaped Murder of a tall black man named George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Floyd died as the result of a Minneapolis Police Officer kneeling on Floyd's neck for nearly 10 minutes. Several videos of the incident showed that before the officer kneeling on Floyd there seemed to be little or no sign that Floyd was resisting arrest for a suspicion that Floyd was passing counterfeit bills.
It is still not clear whether or not George Floyd was or was not passing counterfeit bills. One thing is for sure, though. George Floyd will never be buying anything ever again.
The Amazing Movement that has resulted from Floyd's senseless murder has already reverberated into every Police Department in America and has resulted in the fact that many people who had not paid much attention to Police misconduct when it comes to minorities are now out on the front lines in nationwide and even worldwide protests demanding police accountability for their actions.
Although the Black Lives Matter Movement was producing minimal change in our country prior to the Floyd Murder that is no longer the case. As the result of George Floyd's murder and the unnecessary deaths of countless African Americans, many are now paying close attention to what goes on in their local police departments. Certainly the heat is on American Police Forces.
Although some protests have unfortunately allowed some individuals to burn and loot stores and tarnish the reputations of George Floyd and other innocent murder victims, for the most part the protests have been peaceful and positive. Mostly the reactions to the peaceful protests have been measured and restrained by authorities
One exception to that rule was the reaction to peaceful protests in Washington D.C.across the street from the White House when, at the request of Donald Trump a mixed group of law enforcement and military troops forcefully cleared out Lafayette Park so that President Trump could walk across the street to stand in front of a church and hold a bible upside down for a Photo Op.
Donald Trump had initially planned to have one of his Rallys in Tulsa, Oklahoma today. There was tremendous pushback on that plan because today, June Nineteenth (Also known as Juneteenth) was to be remembered not only for marking the end of Slavery in the United States. It was also a day that was seared into the minds of black people everywhere (But especially in Tulsa) because of a long ago massacre of hundreds of black people by whites in Tulsa. Although Trump initially didn't seem to care about the black massacre on Juneteenth, he finally came to his senses and changed the date of his rally to tomorrow, the twentieth of June.
I don't know what is going to happen at Trump's rally tomorrow. Certainly Donald Trump should not be having a rally in the middle of a Covid 19 Pandemic. But Donald Trump does not seem to be willing to put the health of his followers above his need for adoration. How many people will die as the result of his rally tomorrow does not seem to matter to Donald Trump as long as tomorrow they will be there in Tulsa yelling and screaming his name and making him feel "Great Again."
Sincerely Yours
Jerry Gallagher
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