By Bernie Bell
https://theorkneynews.scot/2020/06/03/blacklivesmatter-orkney-event/
This might not be a popular view to present to the readers, but …it’s how I see it….
When I first came across the idea of going down on one knee, in memory of George Floyd, I thought that was a disturbing, mistaken approach. That’s what killed him – that’s what killed the poor man – a policeman, kneeling on his neck. How is that a good way to honour his memory?
And what do I suggest? I suggest – standing straight, as he wanted to. Standing straight, with your hands free, by your side, not cuffed behind your back.
When I first saw the going down on one knee thing, it made me wince, and it still does.
No – stand tall, stand free, hands free. STAND.
And – to me, going down on one knee is subservient. It’s a sign of servility – bending the knee – bowing down to the masters. Again, no – don’t go down on one knee – STAND.
Stand!
BY SLY & The Family Stone
Stand
In the end you’ll still be you
One that’s done all the things you set out to do
Stand
There’s a cross for you to bear
Things to go through if you’re going anywhere
Stand
For the things you know are right
It’s the truth that the truth makes them so uptight
Stand
All the things you want are real
You have you to complete and there is no deal
Stand. stand, stand
Stand. stand, stand
Stand
You’ve been sitting much too long
There’s a permanent crease in your right and wrong
Stand
There’s a midget standing tall
And the giant beside him about to fall
Stand. stand, stand
Stand. stand, stand
Stand
They will try to make you crawl
And they know what you’re saying makes sense and all
Stand
Don’t you know that you are free
Well at least in your mind if you want to be
Everybody
Stand, stand, stand
Writer(s): Sylvester Stewart
If folk choose to go down on one knee, in memory of George Floyd, of course, that’s their choice.
I would rather stand, in memory of him, and stand when thinking of him and when thinking of all those who have been kept down, under the knee of the oppressor, and would have exulted in the freedom to stand.
Malcolm X is quoted as saying ”That’s not a chip on my shoulder, that’s your foot on my neck.”
I’ll stand for George – I won’t kneel, for any one.
I read the transcript of the last words of George Floyd – and I don’t have words for what I felt. To use the words ‘heart-breaking’ – those words are used a lot. This was a different thing. I felt his panic, his confusion – he wasn’t fighting them, he was handcuffed. He couldn’t breathe – he was telling the policeman that he couldn’t breathe, he was choking – I’m familiar with that feeling – not being able to breathe – it’s horrible.
He hadn’t even committed a serious crime, he was only suspected of using a counterfeit $20 note, but, whatever he had done he didn’t deserve to die in that way. No-one deserves to die in that way.
The poor man, the poor man. And all the time that he was begging to be allowed to breathe, one human being, knelt on the neck of another human being, until he died.
I’m not going into the black or white of it – ‘black lives matter ‘ – all lives matter. He could have been black, ‘white’ ( who is ‘white’, for goodness sake?) brown, yellow-ish, coffee coloured, pink etc. etc. What matters is – that one human being, saw fit, under cover of officialdom, to choke another human being to death.
It’s the humanity, that bothers me, or lack of it. And ….the feeling I get when I read his words.
