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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsPierce: 8 Minutes and 46 Seconds Is a Long Goddamn Time
My husband and I stood. It seemed like forever.
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8 Minutes and 46 Seconds Is a Long Goddamn Time
The memorial for George Floyd, killed in the street by Minneapolis police, brought home the gravity and the horror.
BY CHARLES P. PIERCE
JUN 4, 2020
Let us be truthful. Eight minutes and 46 seconds is a long goddamn time. Its more than a minute and a half longer than anyone ever has run 3,000 meters, more than a minute and a half longer than anyone has swum 800 meters, and two and a half minutes longer than anyone has skated 5,000 meters. Try to hold your breath for 8:46. Now imagine doing it with a boot on the back of your neck and your face ground into asphalt. You would be dead.
That was the most moving part of the extraordinary memorial service conducted in Minneapolis on Thursday for George Floyd, killed in the street by members of that citys police department. It came at the end, after all the glorious singing and the eulogy from the Reverend Al Sharpton, and the touching, homey reminiscences from the members of Lloyds family, particularly his brother, Polonius.
And then, eight minutes and 46 seconds of silence in which we could all reflect on the life of George Floyd, an American killed by other Americans because thats what Americans have done to those other, involuntary Americans since the first ship docked in 1619. The 8:46 clock started ticking at that moment, and its still ticking in the silence that has hung like an iron curtain over the countrys streets.
Listen. You can hear it ticking, especially if you dont breathe.
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a32772326/george-floyd-memorial-8-minutes-46-seconds/
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)person who committed a HORRIBLE crime -- who is about to escape and maybe hurt others -- and a few seconds are needed to constrain them, or a knee slips off the back in a struggle. But, none of that is present here.
mcar
(42,331 posts)That is right. This was murder, pure and simple.