The day, May 25, 2020 was a flashpoint in American culture. A nauseating brazenness nestled in the face of Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, as he knelt on the neck of 46-year-old George Floyd. In broad daylight, under the surveillance of camera phones, fearing no correction from fellow officers, he choked the life out of a thoroughly subdued black man calling for his mother.
These types of police killings had become quite common. The killings had been caught on camera and yet there was no justice applied in those cases. But this particular moment stood out. Maybe it was the casual indifference of the officer. Maybe it was because it happened during the week of a slow news cycle. Maybe the indifference toward black life had to be that obvious. But this one was not swept away. The national outrage continued to swell. This was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
It was the watershed moment that sparked a powerful, yet temporary revolution. It was the cause of an active yet passing crave for awareness. For a moment, we were all “woke” as America did some soul-searching (at least publicly).
And during this time justice was in style. For a fleeting season equity became trendy. Social media timelines were flooded with hashtags, Malcolm X quotes, Martin Luther King Jr. and Black Lives Matter references. There were sit-ins, prayer vigils and a myriad of street marches. The tension was so high that we gathered in public spaces in the middle of a lethal pandemic to call for things to change. The echoes of justice were stirred in a way that mirrored the often romanticized efforts of the civil rights movement. At that moment, justice was trendy.
And it’s amazing how quickly things settle back into normalcy. All the posts that were calling for justice have now been replaced with commentary about the sordid life of Diddy. The large gatherings in public spaces that were once for justice, have been replaced by cheers for our favorite sports team. It’s like it never happened. It’s amazing how quickly things go back to normal.
A quote used by Dr. King, but attributed to Edward Burke, states, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
There’s a unique formula that allows injustice to prevail. Injustice does not prevail when the masses do evil, while the minority seeks good. Injustice prevails when the minority do evil while the masses do nothing. The reason that justice is cyclical while oppression abounds in all seasons is this: those who plot injustice are full-time workers, while those who fight for justice work part-time.
This article is part of our 2025 January/February Issue
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