WWYD If You See George Floyd Or Vilma Kari Happening?

What would you do? At the trial of George Floyd unfolding in Minneapolis, many witnesses agonize over what they could have done differently on that fateful day in May 2020. Simultaneously, we hear about the many who looked the other way when an elderly Filipino woman was assaulted in broad daylight in New York City. Wonder what you or I would have done differently!

When the police officer was kneeling on the neck of George Floyd for 9 minutes and 29 seconds in Minneapolis, the few witnesses who had gathered were mostly Black. They saw what was happening to a Black man, surrounded by three policemen with guns. They knew that if they stepped forward, they would immediately endanger their own lives. An old man stood by in tears. The young store clerk whose call initiated the sequence of events was pacing and agonizing. A life was being drained in front of their eyes and there was nothing they could do.

I can see myself stepping forward and pleading with the cops, but they will likely order that I stay back. Sitting at my desk, many months from May, the best I can think to do is to yell loudly for help and make a scene, with the hope of distracting that knee from the neck. It is ironic to hear that such a potential crowd reaction was what froze the cops from thinking, though nothing like that materialized that day.

Following the shootings of Asian women in Atlanta, in New York City, as Vilma Kari was being pushed and kicked, the best those in the nearest lobby could think to do was to close the lobby door to protect themselves. Their reluctance to step in the middle of violence is understandable, but their decision to ignore is not. Ultimately, someone’s yell for help saved the woman from further hurt.

Mostly the events in our lives are ordinary. When we are in the middle of the extraordinary, unless we have contemplated a priori, it is difficult to know what to do. But this much is clear. We cannot just walk away in the face of overt racism and violence. Nor can we be just silent when we see implicit bias and harassment at work or elsewhere. We cannot wait for someone else to call it out. It is on us to do it.

A bit about me.

I got my second vaccine shot today. It will be another two weeks before I am fully protected against the virus.