A few weeks ago, the news reports were updates on Corona Virus. They were talking about how Australia is successfully flattening the curve, how hospitals are managing well, how peoples lives are slowly going back to normal. Careers and livelihoods being restored. Sport and entertainment restrictions being lifted. Families being reunited. Everything getting better.
And then a week ago, a black man was killed by white police.
Now the news headlines look like this: Protests have broken out all over the country, people are constantly fighting, families are being divided, rioting is destroying America. Authorities are doing nothing, police are using excessive force, and so on.
People are calling for justice, they say that this racial act needs to be amended. A black man was brutally murdered by a white policeman, they scream. And to show how much this atrocity disturbs them, they go around looting, burning, and destroying cities. Black lives matter, and to prove it, we will make carnage.
George Floyd was murdered. A tragedy beyond words.
But how do we make this right? How can we make a difference to the way people are treated?
For me, I think the answer can be found with George Floyd himself. Repeatedly, friends and family refer to him as a 'Gentle Giant'. A brilliant father. A man who lived an honourable and peaceful life. People have come forward with how he inspired young black men and boys, how he changed many lives for the better. He gave up his time for his neighbourhood serving in simple yet valuable ways.
Community members have come forward and referred to him as their brother, uncle, or even dad, because of the influence he had on their lives. George showed teenagers destined for crime how to change their lives by being the example. By loving them and caring for them. Corey Paul Davis, a rap artist and friend of Floyd described him as 'The definition of 'the change you want to see.'" In short, George Floyd was a man who inspired and changed many people's lives.
So how do we change things? By living how George did. By being the change we want to see.
Right now, people are so divided by this incident. In an attempt to show support and priorities, people are hurting and killing each other. But I wonder if this is what Floyd would have wanted. Would this peaceful, inspiring man who was loved by so many have wanted his country torn apart? Yes, he deserves justice. And so many others who have been hurt by racism deserve justice.
As someone who has Indigenous ancestry, I am so encouraged and overwhelmed to see how many people are beginning to recognise the pain and suffering of our previous generations, and I am devastated by the abuse that still occurs toward our people.
But we don't change racism with violence. We change the world by living out that change. We should not be divided by colour, race, belief, gender, poverty, or political stance. We need to unite in love as brothers and sisters of humanity. That is how we make a difference.
