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“Feelings on a Friday”

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A weekend of mourning is underway across the nation.

Across the country, around the world, the global outpouring in memory of George Floyd, has been stunning, heartwarming.

You have to be moved by what you have seen.

The outpouring from leaders, politicians, sports figures, the media, is superb.

The funeral service was stunning in Minneapolis.  The (8:46), nearly 9-minutes of silence at the end of the ceremonial, brought tears to my eye.

So were the sights of the tears in the eyes of Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar, the mayor of Minneapolis, and an entourage that included Minnesota Vikings tight end Kyle Rudolph, and Timberwovles star Karl Anthony Towns, as they knelt infront of the Floyd casket..

The eulogy was moving triggered by not only Floyd’s last comments, ‘I can’t breathe’, but the new phrase, ‘get your knee off my neck’.

The sports world was spinning after Drew Brees initial statement about respect for the flag, and his apology, and the reaction in sports to comments by LeBron James, Magic Johnson and more.

But as we head into this weekend, what we have seen, experienced and felt, numbing as it can be, has a different feel right now.

I hope we are embarking on a very different Civil Rights Movement.

You look at the demonstrators in London, Paris, Amsterdam, in Africa and other global cities, you sense we are on the brink of something very different about to happen.

A civil rights movement, globally is brewing.  This is not voter’s rights in the South; this is not abolition of slavery; this is not just about police injustice.

We are about to embark possibly on change in the US, and maybe world wide.

I would have thought progress would have been made during the 9-year run under then-President Obama, but whatever progress was made seems to have been washed away by what happened in Minneapolis.

Now there is a true movement building, not just in sports, but in the real world, to make changes.

My next door neighbor, the mother of two young boys, is a police  officer, who is confronted with danger every day of her life.  Even more so at this hour, this weekend.

My neighbor across the street is an African-American, who has lived a quality life, while victimized by injustice by white society for his entire 53-years..

I feel for them

I have hope that America, at a cross-roads, makes the right decision  in changing society, and in the treatment of every citizen, regardless of race, religion.

My feelings as we head to a weekend  are of hope, and no longer hurt.

I hope the death of George Floyd will not be in vain, and that his name will be a ‘beacon for finding a new way to live and govern’.

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