A Cool Head

I realize it is not cool to have a cool head amongst all the boiling-hot emotion surrounding the George Floyd henious murder in Minneapolis recently. But, that’s who I am and I must live with it.

To summarize my uncool cool-headed thoughts:

- There is no question that George Floyd was murdered by Derek Chauvin in a particularly grisly and unforgivable way ... as the whole world could see from multiple bystander videos ... and that they have concluded that this murder was racially motivated.

- Because these two men knew each other for a year or more ... and because one of the other three policemen there was black ... there is reason to suspect that the motive for this murder could have been other than racial animus. We may never know this until Chauvin’s trial many months from now ... if ever.

- But the initial reaction of the Minneapolis police department and legal authorities there was suspiciously wrong-headed ... trying to minimize Chauvin’s culpability ... again fanning the flames of injustice.

- Be that as it may, the general perception that this was a racial incident has reopened this societal wound ... causing an enormous emotional outpouring determined to remedy prejudice against blacks once and for all ... particularly in law enforcement ... clearly a just cause ... which has resulted in mass demonstrations.

- Early on, these peaceful protests were hijacked by politically-motivated riots, opportunistic looting and misguided hot-headed anarchists ... which unfortunately besmirched the purpose of these demonstrations ... creating the cultural and political divide in which we now find ourselves immersed ... and motivating many solutions.

- Some of these solutions are obviously unworkable ... trying to either eliminate police departments entirely ... or severely limit their ability to enforce the laws (such as “taking a knee” in front of protesters) ... many of which, if enacted, will not produce happy results ... particularly within minority communities.

Bottom line: Societies seem to need to engage in such hot-headed group catharses periodically. I can’t find my way to participate ... for which I most likely will be burned at the stake.