Names

Today is for justice.
Today is for one man’s justice.
Today is for their family.

Today is for exaltation — for one brief moment of solitude.
Today is for accountability — not gratitude.
Not for the system, at least.

Today is historic.
Today is still tragic.
Today is not for celebration.
Not for society, at least.

Today, like landmark others, will be remembered.
Two names will be imprinted in our collective memories,
Maybe even history books.
The names
will live
In infamy.

In one, there is a convicted murderer.
Discussed in reverence and martyrdom, now, by the systems
That empowered his decisions, his uniform,
His disregard of cameras, a collection of eyes that turned into millions -
His unbothered glaze.
His body.
His knee.

What will become of his name?
Likely a scapegoat by those same systems
To deflect attention and blame
from all the other Stepford Officers
and
Stepford Precincts
and
Stepford Police Departments
and
Stepford Politicians
That have exerted the same power
In the same entitled
And unbothered existence.
The lone wolf sacrificed
By the pack.
His name packaged with his crime
And this trial.

I will not say — his — name.

***

Then, there is George Floyd.
George Floyd.
George
Floyd.
Say his name.

George Floyd.

His name will be remembered.
Although he never asked to be remembered.
He never asked to be known.

George Floyd lived and survived.
George Floyd struggled and fought and won and struggled again.
And he survived. Just like most of us.
And while none of us will be remembered for the everyday that we live,
George Floyd will.
And while his name will forever be spoken
In the same sentences as justice,
We can never forget -
That was not his choice — that was not his purpose
That was not how he envisioned
His name to live through generations -
And maybe history books.

I honor George Floyd.
A man I never knew in person.
A name I should have never known
Unless we chose to be barkada.

George Floyd was a father.
George Floyd was a son.
George Floyd was a brother, a friend, a love of someone’s life.

George Floyd lived.
Until his life was violently ended
By another person, in a uniform,
backed by a system, a society, a history so complicit,
That his death was exactly as intended..
That his death is the main reason we will remember
His name.

And this is why today is a symbol of victory -
A date remembered in infamy due to its surprise -
But not a day for celebration (for society)
Or a day for gratitude
Except for the organizers that made sure
We would say his name with justice.

George Floyd’s name is added to the list — that is still growing
Of the historic black names
Remembered for their deaths -
Their violent deaths.
Remembered because they were assassinated
By white supremacy.

My heart beats as I type.
It is still hard to breathe.

Today is a moment.
An extremely important moment of legal victory
And foundational statute.
It is a day for legal justice for one man
And his family.
A nebula of victory in an even more expansive universe
Of rights wronged
And the promised land where there are no longer
Wrongs gone unnoticed or just accepted.

George Floyd is not the first.
He for sure is not the last.
His name will be remembered,
In a way that we never should have known it,
That will hopefully be honored
By more moments of victory,
By more names remembered for the beautiful reasons of their being,
Of their choosing, of their purpose.

Today, we will say George Floyd. And keep saying his name.
Along with the others.

In honor. In dignity. In power. In peace.

George Floyd.

4/20/2021