George Floyd’s Death and Aftermath
The last weeks have been tough in the United States of America.
Actually, 2020 has been tough on us.
We have a pandemic that it’s still spreading while states are opening back. Then, on May 25, 2020, George Floyd was killed by Derek Chauvin during a police arrest that also involved three other officers. Chauvin kneeled on Floyd’s neck for eight minutes forty-six seconds. Floyd said, “I can’t breathe” sixteen times. It took days to press charges against the officers that were involved in Floyd’s death. Demonstrations and protests erupted in over 400 cities throughout all 50 American states and internationally. People protest against the use of excessive force by police officers and lack of police accountability, but acts of looting, violence, and aggressive police activity have occurred during these demonstrations.
At Utility Avenue, we stand against racism, discrimination, and violence.
At the same time that we call for a peaceful protest, we call for a willingness to fight poverty. Poverty is the leading cause, not only of racism but of so many other social ills. And above all, we call for us not to be enemies of each other. Social divisions only make stronger those who seek to seize and perpetuate themselves in power.
For an analysis of Floyd’s unnecessary murder, we chose to share the opinion of Patrick Bet-David(PBD). We found PBD* two years ago. His Valuetainment Youtube channel is one of the most valuable resources for entrepreneurs. It has weekly how to’s, motivation, and interviews with interesting individuals. His video My Response to George Floyd’s Death and Aftermath is a balanced analysis of the situation in America, and it offers ideas about what to do from an entrepreneur’s perspective.
Video timeline
2:16 George Floyd’s murder
3:27 Criminal charges on the four officers involved
3:52 Predictions on sentences
4:38 Precedents and living with the aftermath of police brutality
7:09 Citizen Journalist: when you take the cellphone and record, you are becoming a citizen journalist. Darnella Frazier has become a citizen journalist.
8:10 The two sides:
Good cops vs. corrupt cops
Peaceful protesters vs. rioters/looters
10:18 Logic vs. Emotion
Reason vs. Feelings
Importance of emotional detachment, empathy, and reason
14:18 Who and what is the cause? Who’s behind this? Who to blame?
15:03 Who benefits the most from the division in America?
15:56 Why is the media so excited?
17:24 Why does this keep happening?
17:46 Racism and discrimination.
19:13 Can we eliminate racism and discrimination?
21:31 2020 census race questions.
22:46 Memory – Being Iranian right after 911.
27:55 Democrats vs. Republicans vision
29:26 Voting and demographics
31:35 What are your permanent solutions?
What is the solution to this? All that is happening is bringing awareness, but none is talking solutions.”
Final words.
These are some of the solutions Patrick offers:
- Change the way you vote. Politicians have to earn votes.
- Help communities get financially free through Capitalism and Entrepreneurship.
- Get so good at what you do that everybody wants to do business with you.
We, as humans, definitely need to learn, grow, and evolve.
We need to do better, be better.
*Patrick Bet-David (PBD)
During the Iranian Revolution of 1978, Patrick’s family had to escape to survive and ended up living at a refugee camp in Erlangen, Germany. At 12 years old, Patrick found himself collecting cans & beer bottles to raise money that could help his family and get him a Nintendo. These childhood experiences had a significant impact on his perspective of freedom, hard work, and entrepreneurship. Today, he is CEO of PHP Agency, Inc., a financial services company with over 12,000 agents in 49 states and Puerto Rico and an active YouTube creator.