George Floyd Murder Protests: The Racists Weapon of Choice – Vehicles
By Jessica Dwyer
The last week has seen some truly horrifying scenes but the ones that are truly showing the danger of fighting the good fight against hatred and racism are the ones showing protesters being slammed into by a couple of tons of metal with a human being behind the wheel knowing fully well what they are doing.
The new weapon of choice it seems for racial attacks are vehicles; cars and trucks being driven into masses of living breathing human beings.
Maybe this idea was spurred on, consciously or subconsciously by the incident only a few years ago in Charlottesville where Heather Heyer lost her life because a 20 year old Nazi decided that he could do more damage that way and have a quick escape? Who knows how the hate filled mind works. But so far in the last few days we’ve seen images of police cars in NYC pushing into barricades and revving engines into gear until protesters have to jump out of the way. We’ve now witnessed a semi tractor trailer plowing through protesters in Minneapolis. And we’re seeing more and more danger being directed at those actually enacting their right to protest against injustice.
These are crowds with children in them. Teenagers and elderly and who want to support the fight against hatred that’s seen far too many people killed for no other reason than the color of their skin. People do bring children to these events where it’s known to be peaceful to show them the truth of our right to protest, a right given to us by the creators of this country that’s supposedly free.
When we see these images it makes it perfectly clear that this is a well chosen weapon by those who use them. You’re hidden, it’s fast, and it can do damage fast and you usually people will clear the way for you pretty quickly when they realize you’re crazy enough to not stop.
My own town in Eugene, OR had this occur today. Only the man responsible was seen, photographed, and so was his license plate.
This image was shared on social media by locals in my area along with video of the police converging on the scene. The disturbing part of those images were what appeared to be her shoes in the street that she’d been knocked out of. As of now I don’t know if they’ve apprehended the man. But there’s the face of someone who doesn’t care if you live, he’ll just bust through you because you don’t matter.
That’s the terrifying part, knowing that there’s something that says it’s human at the wheel of a deadly weapon. And as we go along this weekend we see more and more protesters joining the ranks in the name of equality, justice, and the fact we’re in this together. That’s what it means to be human: being brave and showing truth. And while it seems to be more dangerous than ever to join this fight out in the streets as we see this new wave of violence, it’s telling that the ones perpetrating it are doing so in the safe confines of a vehicle that usually hides their face and lets them run away from the fight like the cowards they are.
So fight on in the name of the victims and know you are braver than they will ever be.