It felt good to call out a bigot and see some consequences. But at the same time there was no pleasure in it at all.
Thank you, Jean Horn.
There can be no sympathy for this racist woman.
On July 7 OneFargo held a press conference at Justice Island (a.k.a., Island Park) in Fargo, N.D. KVLY-TV streamed it live.
During the press conference, OneFargo leader Wess Philome addressed several issues OneFargo has been working on related to systemic racism in the Fargo community, as well as alleged harassment of a Black resident by Fargo police officers the previous week. Live comments streamed under the live video.
Screenshot of KVLY-TV coverage of July 7, 2020 OneFargo press conference.
Jean Horn of Thief River Falls, Minn., engaged in the conversation. “No one owes YOU and (sic) kind of explanation you baboon.”
Black men still swing from trees; White men still put them underknee.
Listen, fellow citizens. Listen.
A 1939 song of protest and rage resonates today, in 2020:
“Southern trees bear a strange fruit / Blood on the leaves and blood at the root / Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze / Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.” – Lyrics and music by Abel Meeropol, recorded by Billie Holiday in 1939. Listen.
Judgements are being tossed about like tear gas canisters launched into crowds of people.
Peaceful protester in Fargo, N.D., May 30, 2020
Peaceful protesters are good. Rioters are bad. Police are good. Police are bad. Police should use whatever force is necessary to clear protesters/rioters, including lethal force. Property damage is counter-productive. Police are instigating violent reactions. Left-wing extremists are agitating protesters. Right-wing extremists are agitating protesters. The extremists want chaos and revolution.
On and on.
As we share thoughts and opinions about the murder of George Floyd and who is doing what, and as we debate the good and bad of peaceful protests, violent riots and all the complex, related issues in the wake of Floyd’s death, I suggest we keep this gruesome pair of visions before our minds’ eyes:
Bloody tree, bloody black body swinging in the breeze.
Black man on the pavement, white police officer kneeling on his neck.
There was a peaceful march in my city, Fargo, N.D., on the morning and afternoon of May 30. Black Lives Matter organized the protest to remember Floyd, a Black man murdered at the hands (knees) of White police officers in Minneapolis on Memorial Day, and to draw attention to ongoing, systemic racism and police brutality in the United States.
Protest sign: “The system in the United States isn’t broken; it was built this way.” We all need to do more to address racism and stop the killing of our brothers and sisters.
#BlackLivesMatter
IV Words is horrified at what happened to George Floyd in Minneapolis – yet another death by cop for a black man in this country.
As a white man, my perspective is obviously limited, but what happens to people of color in the United States every day, and it seems especially to men of color, is shameful, soul-crushing, vile. I cannot imagine the daily feelings, from ever-present unease to terror.
For what it’s worth, I stand with all people of color. And today I stand especially with you for George Floyd.
