Race relations in America far worse two years after George Floyd's murder

Two years ago, following nine minutes and 29 seconds of horror, one that would take its place among the pantheon of unspeakable violence perpetrated against Black people throughout American history, came the protests. They were mostly nonviolent and, almost as important, they showed how significant swaths of the country, people of all races and backgrounds, could say in a unified voice that Black lives do matter.

Following the brutal murder of George Floyd came a true moment of American exceptionalism. Not the postcard version of the phrase, but the real one, as a diverse group of people coalesced around Floyd's death, and showed that it wasn't just Black people who were outraged.

The coalition was unique in that it featured a significant number of white protesters.

“This is utterly different from anything we’ve seen,” Douglas McAdam, a sociologist at Stanford who studies social movements, told The New York Times, speaking of the protests as they occurred in real time.

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Most other high-profile killings of Black men while in police custody, between 2014 and 2020, also brought protests, McAdam told the Times, “but overwhelmingly in the Black community.”

This isn't to praise white people, and other races, for joining the fight that Black people have traditionally taken on alone. It's about what was ... and what could have been.

The juxtaposition was striking. A murder of a Black man while in police custody, followed by peaceful protests featuring a coalition of Americans. Not just Black Americans, but many kinds of Americans. It was, well, beautiful.

Signs of hope give way to surges of white nationalism, violence

There was, however, another type of coalescing taking place.

It wasn't in the streets or the hearts of the noble. It took place in chat rooms. It centered on a racist president and some of his followers, who are white nationalists and, unlike the rainbow coalition amassed during the Floyd protests, these people want to eliminate all colors except one.

This coalescing would come together and inflict its damage everywhere, from the steps of the U.S. Capitol to a mass murder of Black people in a grocery store in Buffalo, New York.

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There was a sliver of a window for the country to at least consider coming together after Floyd's murder, just enough for a tiny crack of light to enter, and warm us all, and change us all.

Instead, if we are honest, brutally, factually and emotionally honest, we must come to a chilling conclusion. Things aren't just worse two years after Floyd's murder. They are far worse.

That is the unfortunate truth, and that ugly truth speaks to us from a number of places. Like how the country has slid further into an anti-Democratic place, further into extremism, and the poison of white nationalism surges through the country's heart as dangerous and violent as it has been in decades. Election deniers and believers in Donald Trump's election lies have dug themselves even further into the body of the democratic process.

Elsewhere, The Washington Post reports that after the Buffalo shooting, 75% of Black Americans worry that they, or someone they love, will be attacked because of their race.

Some of the country's most powerful politicians and media figures are embracing the racist "great replacement" conspiracy theory. In some parts of the nation, there are pushes to ban the type of historical knowledge that would possibly help prevent another Floyd.

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In fact, one of the greatest politicians of our lifetime, House Majority Leader James Clyburn, is so concerned about the state of the country that he recently offered this dire warning:

“The country is in danger of imploding. Democracy is in danger of disintegrating,” Clyburn said. “I don’t know why people feel that this country is insulated from the historical trends.”

What happened from the time of that moment of possibility following such devastating loss, until now, when traitors parade through the Capitol carrying Confederate flags? How did such a transformative moment become almost anti-transformative?

Perhaps the unity demonstrated by the protests scared the people, the political groups, the white nationalists and others, who organize for different reasons, and want a different type of unity, the way the election of President Barack Obama did. Or were the diverse protests a glimpse into the future of a country experiencing demographic change, and that change scares some people?

We learned nothing from George Floyd's murder

There were things that changed two years ago. It's rare for police to be held accountable for these type of actions. The cop who murdered Floyd, and those who stood by and watched, were. That was significant.

President Joe Biden is expected on Wednesday to sign an executive order he hopes will help reform federal policing and protect civil rights. It's a step, but a significantly smaller one, because Congress has been unable to reach bipartisan compromise on more sweeping actions.

Also, it should be noted that after Floyd's death, few believed seismic and positive change was coming. No one thought we'd all be holding hands and singing over a campfire. Many of us did believe, however, it would be the beginning of some form of lasting progress.

That, it turns out, was silly.

Instead, the country, sadly and some would say predictably, has taken multiple steps backward.

When thinking of Floyd, it's difficult not to consider the case of the Delaware State University’s women lacrosse team. They were stopped on April 20 by police while traveling on a bus in Liberty County, Georgia. Almost everyone on the bus was Black. The police were white. The bus was searched for marijuana. None was found.

Floyd was supposed to teach, in the most grotesque lesson, about the abuse of police power. We haven't learned. Worse, the abuse of power, the violence, the racism, the denial of facts, are increasing everywhere, like we're all being pulled into a gravity well of chaos and disinformation.

I wish I had a better message on this day.

But this is the truth.

Mike Freeman is the race and inequality editor for USA TODAY Sports. Follow him on Twitter: @mikefreemanNFL

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: George Floyd: Race relations in America worse years after his murder