RE: George Floyd Riot s Date: 5/31/2020 To all public leaders (mayors, governors , presidents, the press , etc. ) and the public : I am a white , educated, young, unpre judiced male. I share this for full transparency and to give contex t for my following opinions , should they be misinformed or less than comprehensive of the true s tate of racism in America . I am writing to you all to try to effectively appease the enraged public and cease the r i ots swiftly . The extent of the reactionary damage the angry public will cause and res ulting tension and violence among your communities , law enforcement , and residents are contin gent upon your willing ness to lis ten to your constituents and take public action. I have made some recommendations for action at the end of this writing. For furt her clarif icati on , every protest and riot tak ing place are in reaction to a string of recorded and released unlawful, unfair, racially d riven murders that have tak en place throughout the country in countless incidents I t pains me to witness both the origi nal offenses and the violence resulting during riots while opposing sides disregard the ir fault and continue to blame each other. I do not want to write th is letter but feel it is a public necessity. Cops are not above the la w and should be held accountable for their actions just as va ndalizers and looters should be held accountable for theirs. W ith more understanding and cooperation, people will calm down and we can learn to love each other First of all, if you have not seen the 10 minute G eorge Floyd video in its entire ty, please do so using the following link : https://youtu.be/g8hGKB5QDhw Until you see the entire video, you are missing the full context of why the public is so upset. This video is se lf - evident of the racial injusti ce result ing in the public outcry, but below are my interpretations of the absurdity of this event George was ( suppos ed to be) arrested based on allegations of using a counterfeit $20 bill. In the USA, we the people have a right to due p rocess, are “ innocent until proven guilty ” , and should a ll be tr eated equal. Unfortunately, with the c ivil r ights move ment happening on ly a generation ago, we still see residual s ystemic racism resulting in the deaths of Black Americans for alleged crimes that are of far lesser gravity than the loss of life George will never get a fair trial because he was murdered by one police officer while the other p olice off icers refused to protect him and witnessed his murder Assuming George did resis t arrest, we witness that the four police off icers were abl e to apprehend George and put him in handcuffs on the ground. Which begs the question of why , f ollowing his apprehension , did Derek Chau vin continue to pressure his knee and body weight on to Ge orge ’ s neck ? Despite George plea ding for his life and his abilit y to breathe AND sever al bystanders pleading for the police officers to intervene and save George ’ s life , Chauvin continue d to put pressure on G eorge ’ s neck until George becomes unresponsive a nd later die d And n o t one police officer intervened. This is not the police I want en forcing the law in m y city. What happen ed to “ protect and serve ” ? So ye s , the public is angry. And they deserve to be. This is no lone incident, this w as not a single of fender, this was not a split - second decision , and worst of all, this was not some random racist person committ ing the crime This was an intentional act by a m an who se job i s to enforce the law, not break it T his is a recorded murder of a Black America n by a White police officer with several police officers allowing Chauvin ’ s excessive force And to make matters worse, we do not see any hat e crime or first - degree mur der charges brought forward. We did not se e an immediate arrest o f Chauvin despit e the cla rity of his crime. We allowed our police to kill a Black man for resist ing arrest after using a co unterfeit bill (which h e may not have even known he was using) , b ut we took our time arresting the racist m urderer record ed committing this crime because he i s W hite and w ore a blue uniform. People see the injustice and are creating the nec essary commotion for me to make a public statement to you all to advising the action s necessary to end this battle These p eace ful protest s have evol ved into violen t riots be cause many Americans with personal raci st experiences gather a fter witnessing the broken system and de em a confrontation necessary . They blame all police officers and the entire justice system because this is a n emotional ly painful murder case that to uch es individuals deeply And therefore, the violence ensues , so do not blame them, and do not respon d with violence or threats of violence Think about how any instance of anger you have felt in your personal life about something far less severe than a mu rder deriving from institutional racism , such as a n instance of roa d rage or a rude comment . Their anger is unde rstand able, and you as a leader must end the pain and suffering this racism has cause d to millions of Americans , which in turn will end the riot s. The unfortu nate truth of the matter is that there are plent y of people on both sides taking advantage of th e prot ests and riots People take segments of a full video to twist the tr uth and support their position which leads to polariza tion of these two opposing sides Additionally, I have seen online videos of white people l ooting and putting graffiti on walls in the middle of peaceful pr otest s , all for their own self - gain, because they know they will no t be c aught for c rime . People ! please stop this no nsense Someone – actually, many people – died by the hand s of racism , and you are willing to compr omise your self - respect for some nominal material gains in a world plagued by COVID - 19 and legitimate racism? At least t he crimes behind viol ence against pol ice cars, court houses, and between people are for a legitimate cause This selfi sh looting must stop, and t o everyone: t he violence must cease C reating further carnage will n ot b ring George back or the countless other minorities who have died nor will it undo the years of pain from racism . We must stand together and peacefully enact t he change. Let u s find a solution and admit to the roles we have all pla yed in perpetuating racism or contributing to viol ence to finally come b ack together as one community. I am with you all and pray for peace in these troubled times We cannot point fingers . The truth of the matter is that the public is crying for racial justice louder , hop ing for a better outcome than George ’ s crying f or life . Police , please understand the passion and em otion these protesters have. It could have been their b rother or sister who was killed last year. In a perfect world, they would no t have to p rotest ; but there is a problem of systemic racism that need s a ttention , so please have compassion fo r that truth. At least t he material damages in riots may be replaced unlike the loss of life. A s public leaders , the future is in your hands . You may sit idle on the sidelines, you may solicit resource s from state mili tia to fight us, or you may s tand with us , understanding there is a legitimate pro blem des erving of your attention and all our cooperation Let u s collaborate, not unlike the scientists are doing with the coronavirus vaccine development, to find a way to eliminate racism from th is wor ld. Please read the excerpt below to understand what you need to do and read some of my suggestions that follow for a starting point. Then, I implore you to organize a convention a nd listen to the public for more comprehensive and effec tive solutions. Toge ther we can end all hatred on both sides These protest ers were peaceful a week ago. It is not as though they were desir ing to wreak havoc in American cities before they felt oppressed again after another si tuation where a discriminatory system unjustly allowed a Black citizen to be killed after allegedly committing a misdeme anor So do not disregard their anger, and definitely enact the change to end the systemic racism ; bring ing justi ce for the marginalized people of America and fixing the raci st beliefs leading to inequa lity in institu tions is the m ost effec tive way to end damaging riots. In a perfect world, riots w ould not b e necessary to bring equality, but clearly our leaders ’ inaction to ack nowledge and end racism has direct ly led to the vandalism and violence that ha s ensued The protesters just want to know that they are heard and understood. Walk with them. 1. Do not fi ght fire with fire. Understand these peop le ’ s intentions and goals and work towards fixing the system instead of fighting them. Using t ear gas and rubber bulle ts will only further anger t he protest ers, entice greater violence in other c ities and countries, and further polarize the t wo sides Coo p eration and rationality are the only way out of this mess. 2. Prosecute peop le w ho murder minorities with racist prejudices of committing hate crimes Derek Chauvin committed far more than just manslaughter 3. Arrest racist murderers immediately. George, a civilian who potentially committed a misdemean or, was apprehended immediately George did not re ceive any ti me f or an investigation, no r did he receiv e a just punish ment for his mi sdemeanor. Howe ver , i mmediately following the mur der , the true threat to soci ety Derek Chauvin wa lked free for several days demonstrating the insti tutional partiality. There is much speculation that had Derek been Bl ack and Ge orge been White, an arrest would have been made sooner. 4. Have a zero - tolerance policy for racism in your police department. Simpl y remov ing all potentially p rejudiced officers ( who represent your police and enforce the law with significant power ) is an inve stment with mo netary and communal ben efits . The benef its of preventing a n act like this and the resul ting public tension and millions of dollars’ worth of dam ages from public riots far exceeds the nominal cost of rep lacing some bad officers. 5. Train police officers (both current and to - be ) about the conseq uences of excessive force . Also train them about ra cial equality and t he history of p olice injustice towards minorities prevent raci al discrimination in the justice system. 6. Enact a racism resistance educati on, sim ilar to the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) , for elementa ry/middle s chool students to learn equality in the public e ducation system. Maybe we can prevent our future generation s from perpetuating any cu ltu ral or familial r aci al prejudi ces 7. Be k ind to each other and understand we are all human. We all want to be tr e ated with love and fairn ess. Let u s work toge ther to solve this. Listen to your communi ty and stop threatening and hurting each other. We all want to go home to see our families at the end of the day , which is exactly what was stripped from George Fl oyd S o police , please be patient and understanding ; no ne of the emotional reactions this week are directed towards you as individuals but rather a t the state of the system . A nd protestors , understand not everyone is against you ; m any police officers have no racial pre judice and s imply want to keep you safe and help you get home safely , which is why they chose thei r occupa tion L astly , p lease share this message if you gained an y p erspective from this writing . I hope w e can move past this so on and stop the chaos we are bringing upon ourselves. And I hope the racist American history can be left in the past as we build towards a future of equality And I hope you will join in and advocate and act toward s enacting change , b ecause this is the best way out of this turmoil which will speak of your character for decades. It i s as simple as a public statement or a peace ful walk you organize, but please acknowledge that Black Lives Also Matter to you. Respect fully, Brian