Michelle Obama on George Floyd’s Killing: ‘It Can’t Just Be on People of Color to Deal With It’
Former first lady Michelle Obama is speaking out as the country continues to mourn and rage against the killing of George Floyd, a black man who was suffocated by a white police officer who kept his knee on Floyd's neck until he was dead. "I can't breathe, man," Floyd can be heard saying in one video. "Please, let me stand. Please, man."
Though Floyd was killed on May 25, former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin wasn't arrested until Friday, May 29. Chauvin was charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter of the 46-year-old truck driver, according to Hennepin County attorney Mike Freeman. This comes after days of protests across the country on behalf of Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and countless black citizens who have lost their lives to police brutality and white supremacy with little to no retribution. The three other officers involved in pinning Floyd to the ground have been fired, but have yet to be charged.
"Like so many of you, I’m pained by these recent tragedies," the former first lady wrote on Twitter on May 29. "And I’m exhausted by a heartbreak that never seems to stop. Right now it’s George, Breonna, and Ahmaud. Before that it was Eric, Sandra, and Michael. It just goes on, and on, and on."
"Race and racism is a reality that so many of us grow up learning to just deal with. But if we ever hope to move past it, it can’t just be on people of color to deal with it," she continued her four-part thread. "It’s up to all of us—Black, white, everyone—no matter how well-meaning we think we might be, to do the honest, uncomfortable work of rooting it out. It starts with self-examination and listening to those whose lives are different from our own."
"It ends with justice, compassion, and empathy that manifests in our lives and on our streets," the former first lady concluded. "I pray we all have the strength for that journey, just as I pray for the souls and the families of those who were taken from us."
President Barack Obama shared his statement earlier on Friday, urging Americans not to go back to normal. "It’s natural to wish for life 'to just get back to normal' as a pandemic and economic crisis upend everything around us," the 44th president said in his statement. "But we have to remember that for millions of Americans, being treated differently on account of race is tragically, painfully, maddeningly 'normal.' This shouldn’t be 'normal' in 2020 America. It can’t be 'normal.' If we want our children to grow up in a nation that lives up to its highest ideals, we can and must be better."
"It falls on all of us," he concluded his statement. "Regardless of our race or station—including the majority of men and women in law enforcement who take pride in doing their tough job the right way, every day—to work together to create a 'new normal' in which the legacy of bigotry and unequal treatment no longer infects our institutions and our hearts."
Originally Appeared on Glamour
