America is tired. America is angry. America is hurting. America is burning. America is in turmoil.
Top News Today
Since the death of George Floyd last Monday in Minneapolis, America has taken to the streets from coast to coast to protest the death of yet another Black man at the hands of police. An unprecedented scene of peaceful protests combined with looting and fires overtook Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Denver, Louisville, Omaha, Des Moines, Washington, Dallas/Ft. Worth, New York, Atlanta, Oakland, Nashville, San Jose, Detroit, Austin, Seattle, Salt Lake City, Chicago, Philadelphia, Indianapolis, Newark, Miami, Boston, Houston, New Orleans, Memphis, Phoenix, Portland, San Francisco, and points in between. The streets were filled with men, women, children, Blacks, Whites, gays, straight, the young and the old who carried placards that read “Black Lives Matter” and “No Justice, No Peace.” They came despite the need to wear COVID-19 masks and delivered a very important message: they are tired of being tired.
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A weekend of havoc began on Thursday when CNN reporter Omar Jimenez — who is visibly dark-skinned due to his Black mother and Hispanic father — was arrested in Minneapolis while reporting live on the air despite showing his journalist credentials. His instant guilt as a dark-skinned man along with the recent deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Aubery, Breonna Taylor, and others only served to underline the message that being Black in America is a crime and people are just not going to take it anymore.
DONALD TRUMP
As the protests overpowered the streets of America, Donald Trump followed his usual playbook by pouring more gasoline on the fire and lighting a match to further fuel the flames.
“These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won’t let that happen,” Trump tweeted on Friday. He then added, “When the looting starts, the shooting starts,” parroting former Miami police chief Walter Headley whose same choice of words spurred race riots in the late 1960s. Trump’s divisive vitriol was immediately criticized by members of both political parties, who were shocked to hear a sitting President of the United States threaten to shoot American citizens on their own streets.
On Saturday morning, Trump called an impromptu press conference which created the buzz that he was ready to be presidential and admit that America is in turmoil. Instead, Trump issued a brief statement about his anger toward China and refused to take questions or even acknowledge the death of George Floyd and the ongoing protests.
By Saturday night as protesters surrounded The White House, Donald Trump was back to being the “Arsonist-In Chief” and still refused to issue any message of calm or unity. Instead, he tweeted “If they had [breached the White House barricades] they would have been greeted with the most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons, I have ever seen. That’s when people would have been really badly hurt.” His message conjured up images of dogs being released against protesters during the civil rights movement. Twitter has since removed the tweet.
Donald Trump praised the white supremacist MAGA supporters who stormed the Michigan State Capitol carrying semi-automatic rifles because they were angry for being told to stay home during the coronavirus threat. However, he has remained silent and gone missing in action over the huge protests in virtually every city in America who are angry about the lives of Black men and women being devalued and being taken.
“When somebody talks about thugs ruining a place, it is almost impossible today that they are referring to somebody with blond hair. It is a sly way of saying ‘There go those black people ruining things again.’ And so anybody who wonders whether ‘thug’ is becoming the new N-word doesn’t need to. It’s most certainly is.” – John McWhorter, associate professor of English at Columbia University
JOE BIDEN APPEARS PRESIDENTIAL
Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden made a personal phone call to the Floyd family then delivered a statement of calm and unity soon thereafter.
“We are a nation in pain, but we must not allow this pain to destroy us. We are a nation enraged, but we cannot allow our rage to consume us. We are a nation exhausted, but we will not allow our exhaustion to defeat us,” Mr. Biden said.
So as to not be outdone, Trump then made his own quick telephone call to the Floyd family but refused to allow them to ask questions or to even get a word in edgewise before ending the call.
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WHAT SHOULD HAPPEN NEXT?
In the absence of real and actual leadership from the current resident of the Oval Office, it’s important for someone to step up somewhere. With America in turmoil, this would be an opportune moment for all of the former presidents to gather together and provide a word of calm and compassion to those who are hurting.
Presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama should film a unified message to the protesters, letting them know America hears them and is with them. Joe Biden should continue his messaging and seize this moment to select an African-American woman as his running mate. Additionally, members of Congress should come together with bipartisan legislation aimed at eradicating police brutality and the presumed crime of being Black in America.
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The time has come. Enough is enough!
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OK WASSUP! discusses the Top News Today:
From coast to coast, America is in turmoil.
Great summary DJ. I waited a bit before commenting to give other readers a chance to their voices on such an “unprecedented” and critical moment in Our lifetime and Our nation’s history. Hopefully other readers will chime in. “In the absence of real and actual leadership from the current resident of the Oval Office, it’s important for someone to step up somewhere.” -DJ I absolutely Agree. In fact, I would posit that in the absence of “real and actual leadership from the current resident of the Oval Office,” it’s IMPERATIVE for Community leaders and “WE The People” to STEP UP and put ACTION to words – doing all that WE can to put out the raging fires (emotionally and structurally). Doing all that WE can to clean up, restore a sense of calm, focus AND purpose within our own respective communities. There can be no denying the fact that absent “real… Read more »