George Floyd's Death - A Time To Do Away With Discrimination Poem by Bernedita Rosinha Pinto

Never had this reflection
even in the deepest and lightest
of my imagination, ever occurred
that the name and memory
of just one man called George Floyd
would be echoing in every corner,
in every State of America
though he was not a President
though he was not a Mayor
but just a black man who died
due to the folly of a Policeman who himself
had forgotten to uphold
the procedure of law and justice
towards whom he had chosen to arrest.

And though George Floyd never had stardom,
and though he was not even popular,
neither had he ever been to the White House
yet in death he became so famous
that his name keeps vibrating all over America
and all over the world as every city cringes
with pain, with anger, with protests
as a vent to their agony and frustration
as George Floyd died without mercy
though he kept saying:
I cant breathe, I cant breathe,
and no one showed any concern or compassion
while he was struggling to live and be alive.

Who does not want to survive?
who does not want to ever die without dignity?
And as people keep recollecting the final end
of George Floyd, they keep asking themselves-
how can they accept to forget or forgive
such a horrific act where an unarmed black man
was treacherously held under the knees
of a cop who paid no heed when he told him -
I cant breathe, I cant breathe;
yes he was just one single black man
without a gun, without a chance to run
and the cops were watching calmly his helplessness.

And as the protests keep rising now everywhere,
it is people's way of asking about the safety
of their own existence, their own tomorrow
and whether they will have dignity to die
or will they be victims of brutality
if their brethren is black in color,
will they also face such an end like George Floyd?
But as every crime has a rule book,
every country must follow the rules and laws
with those who impose crime on others,
whether it is the cop on duty
who lacked conscientiousness
or whether it is the discrimination
that burns like a slow fire hurting the image
of human beings who are black in color.