No more excuses: Racism that led to George Floyd’s death lives in Tacoma, too

When Dave Hollenbeck, a coach at Bethel High School, posted a photo of himself last week on Facebook reenacting the death of George Floyd, he did what white people have done for centuries when it comes to systematic racism. He tried to excuse it.

In the now-deleted photo of himself pinned to the ground, Hollenbeck gave the camera a thumbs up, trying to prove to his Facebook friends that a weight-bearing knee to the neck couldn’t kill a man. Except it did.

For almost nine minutes, Floyd was pinned to the ground by Minneapolis police officers. When he repeatedly cried out, “I can’t breathe,” the men who were paid to serve and protect ignored those cries.

It would be easy to channel the immense anger we feel over Floyd’s senseless killing toward three Minneapolis cops. Or toward apologists like Hollenbeck, who tried to tell folks that Floyd died from a wrestling move gone wrong. Hollenbeck appropriately lost his job after only one season of coaching.

But the problem of racism runs much deeper. The problem infects every community across our nation; it’s a contagion more widespread, deep-rooted and resilient than coronavirus. And until we admit that out loud, nothing will change.

The legacy of white supremacy isn’t just found in the killing of unarmed black men by law enforcement; it’s in our judicial system where heavier sentences for black people are still meted out. It’s in our health care policies, education system and housing.

The last three months have exposed pervasive inequities. The toll of the pandemic has fallen disproportionately on the poor and people of color — people with the lowest percentage of paid sick leave, health care access and work-at-home options.

Here in the South Sound we take pride in embracing multiculturalism. Witness our festivals and parks, parades and award ceremonies, streets and bridges that honor contributions made by people of color. But all these displays can’t cover up the gaps that persist between majority and minority populations.

Here in Tacoma, decades of redlining, wherein banks typically lent only to white people, kept black families from buying homes. Our current lack of affordable housing has kept neighborhoods segregated far too long.

A study last year by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development found: “People of color who were homeless accounted for nearly the entire increase in homelessness; the number of homeless white people remained flat.”

Floyd’s death represents not just a denial of justice and mercy, but also decent housing, education opportunities and personal safety.

Law and order are critical for society to function and prosper, but people have a right to be angry; they have a right to demand change. Bad actors taking advantage of this justified rage should not diminish or hijack the message that black lives matter.

A protester at Monday’s peaceful rally in Tacoma’s Wright Park said it well when he stood atop a table and shouted: “This isn’t a black thing; it isn’t a white thing. It’s a human thing.”

America is inflamed that three Minneapolis cops stood by last week and did nothing while Derek Chauvin took George Floyd’s life. Such inaction can no longer be tolerated, and neither can our inaction as a community and nation.

No more excuses.

This story was originally published June 2, 2020 at 10:00 AM.