Statement on the Death of George Floyd
1920
The original flag was flown outside the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s New York City headquarters to make known the event of a lynching.
2020
Found missing on June 17, 2020. Anyone who may have information concerning this banner, please contact the Falls Church Police Department.
2020
July 2, 2020...Thanks to All who supported this banner!
TINNER HILL HERITAGE FOUNDATION AND ITS AUXILIARY, THE SOCIAL JUSTICE COMMITTEE OF FALLS CHURCH
We wish to express our condolences to the families and the loved ones of George Floyd. We understand and feel your pain and we grieve with you during this difficult time. George Floyd’s death is another name in a long and troubling era in the American narrative of how African American lives have been snuffed out by law enforcement in this nation.
This tragic event reminds us of the iconic photograph showing the NAACP headquarters in New York with a flag reading “A Man Was Lynched Today” hanging from the window. This was a lynching by a knee instead of a noose, caught in full detail by video cameras from those standing by and one store-front camera. We have yet to see the videos from the officers' body cameras. For eight minutes and forty-six seconds, an officer knelt on George Floyd’s neck. For over two minutes after Mr. Floyd was motionless.
We are somewhat relieved that all four officers, there on the scene, were charged and arrested for second degree murder. But why were charges so long in coming? Police officers should not be above the law but it is rare that a charge against an officer is successfully prosecuted. We will wait with baited-breath and watch closely to see what happens to these four officers. We hope for a resounding conviction of all who committed this heinous act upon George Floyd.
The needless and wrongful deaths of unarmed African Americans is nothing new. The use of deadly force on unarmed African Americans too often is allowed, too often resulting in death. This has to stop, because enough is enough! “Black Lives Matter” is more than a catchy slogan. America’s history of systemic racism goes back to the beginning of the American Colonies when, in 1619, “30 and Odd” enslaved Africans arrived at Point Comfort near Hampton, Virginia and thus began our nation’s dependence on African slavery as its means of production in a new world. Slavery is often referred to as “America’s Original Sin.” So, from Africa to 250 years of Slavery, from Emancipation and Reconstruction, to 100 years of Jim Crow and segregation, to 60 years since Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr. marched for civil rights, Black people have lived in fear of their lives from law enforcement. And until Black Lives Matter as much as white lives and all lives matter, this problem will exist.
People are protesting George Floyd’s death in cities, not just in the United States, but in many countries as well. The world is watching what is happening in our country and they are appalled at these actions and inactions on the part of our nation's law enforcement. African Americans are legally entitled to and deserve the same protection under the law that whites enjoy. Serious reform needs to be made on the part of law enforcement and the criminal justice system in the United States. As a nation we can, and we must, do better. Enough is enough!
Sincerely,
Tinner Hill Heritage Foundation Board of Directors and Social Justice Committee of Falls Church