06/06/2020
Some moments in American history are indelible. Seared into our collective memory, they are markers of our shared experience. Each has its own gravity; each its own emotional weight. We laugh, or cry or reel in stunned silence. And sometimes, we are enraged.
The violent, senseless murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers is horrific, both in its wanton disregard for life and as a metaphor for the experience of Black Americans across this country. The gruesome visual of an immobilized Black man choked to death beneath the knee of a white police officer is emblematic of a cancer in our society that must be identified, rooted out and stopped – immediately.
It is time for a reckoning in America, an exercise in deep self-reflection, empathy and humility that is hundreds of years overdue. The murder of George Floyd is not a one-off occurrence; it is a specter that hangs over every black and brown person in this country, a terror that shapes behavior, feeds anxiety and acts as an implicit blanket of oppression across whole communities.
Now is a time for choosing. We have reached a tipping point in which it is no longer enough to “not be racist,” just as it was not enough for Derek Chauvin’s fellow officers to stand idly by while George Floyd gasped for air and called for his mother through his tears. These officers’ complicity was every bit as responsible for Floyd’s death as Derek Chauvin’s knee.
Now is a time for justice. Not only for George Floyd, but also for Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor.
For Oscar Grant and Philando Castile.
For Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown.
For Emmett Till, Martin Luther King Jr., Medgar Evers and Harry T. Moore.
For the countless other Black men, women and children who have been murdered, abused, terrorized and oppressed in this country, for whom no media report or cell phone video provided a window into their fate.
As a company, Merchants Exchange Productions and the entire Clint Reilly family of companies will bring the full force of our organization to bear against hate, police brutality and social inequality. We will listen, empathize and work to proactively dismantle the structures of systemic racism wherever it exists.
We are united by our shared humanity. We speak with one voice:
“Justice and equality for all.”
