Dr Dexter B. Gordon: ‘Work of justice still ahead of us’ after white cop is found guilty of murder

Dr Gordon, a native of Old Harbour Bay, Jamaica and current professor in the Department of Communication and Theatre Arts and director of the African American Studies Program at the University of Puget Sound, says people of African heritage in America can breathe a collective sigh of relief because such matters involving the police rarely get tested in the court, and when they do it usually ends in an acquittal for the accused officer.

In a post titled ‘Again, a Sigh, and another Breath’ shared to his personal Facebook account, Dr Gordon penned the following:

“As we reflect again on the killing of George Floyd, a sigh of relief is all that the guilty verdict against Derek Chauvin affords us. The ability to breathe free and to be free is what all of us must have as part of our everyday lives. The fact that so many Black and Brown people do not get to exercise these as basic rights means that the work of justice is still ahead of us.

“Yes, a concerned people, we held our collective breaths awaiting this verdict. Thankfully, unlike George Floyd, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Philando Castile, Roxanne Moore, Daunte Wright, Adam Toledo, Ma'Khia Bryant, and an unending host of other victims of police killings, we as Black and Brown people, get to breathe this rare sigh of relief. The past being our prologue, Black and Brown people, had every reason to expect to have our breaths taken away once more with another routine verdict of no accountability.

“It is remarkably unremarkable that in a country that prides itself on being built on laws grounded in equality, justice, and human dignity a straightforward verdict of accountability is marked as a rare achievement.

“But maybe, just maybe, beginning with H.R.7120 - The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2020 and S. 4263: The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, we might enact laws that will lead to change in our structures of inequity and injustice. Who knows, while we have this rare opportunity to breathe and contemplate accountability, we might even imagine that HB40 could become law and we could move in the direction of economic justice for those whose ancestors were enslaved and exploited for two hundred and fifty years in the United States. Yes, people like George Floyd and those from whom he came.

“Rare as it is, this outcome does not bring George Floyd back. And it will bring only limited relief to his family and loved ones. Still, we can build on this verdict to move our collective lives forward in the name of justice and of our common humanity. This is the least we can do for the families of those sentenced to long years of grief, pain, and loss by a system that presumes to serve and protect them.”

George Floyd, a 48-year-old black man, died while being arrested by Derek Chauvin, a white police officer during in an incident filmed by bystanders in Minneapolis, Minnesota in May 2020. Chauvin placed his knee on Floyd’s neck for nine minutes, causing him to suffocate and die. During the ordeal, which was condemned globally, Floyd was heard saying “I can’t breathe”. Chauvin faces a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison based on Minnesota law after being found guilty of second and third degree murders and also manslaughter.

Dr Gordon, who authored the 2006 book Black Identity: Rhetoric, Ideology, and Nineteenth-Century Black Nationalism in which he explored deep-seated problems of racial alienation and the importance of black identity in the United States, also contends that the re-education of people of colour is paramount in its fight for true liberation and the pursuit of happiness in America.

“How should we in education, for example, be accountable to this verdict? We might recognize the possibilities of this moment and respond in ways that might lead in the direction of acknowledgement and repair,” said the St Jago High School alum. “Perhaps, we might critically examine the reasons Black and Brown people are consistently in police gunsights? And we can work to eliminate the knowledge systems that provide justifications for these public lynchings. In so doing we might help to bring an end to the policing of Black and Brown breathing. After all, it was years ago that educator Carter G. Woodson looked at this most barbaric feature of US life and concluded that, “there would be no lynching if it did not start in the classroom.”