#jasonwebb

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The following is an article by Jason Webb - a Milwaukee-based public speaker and an advocate of racial reconciliation, dedicated to the death of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, in Minneapolis, MN. Originally published on theodysseyonline.com For 9 minutes we knelt. In silence. In protest. I did not think it would feel like it did. After all, what are 9 minutes? It's just a quick moment. On a normal day, 9 minutes is nothing. So as I knelt, I didn't think I would feel much. 9 minutes is nothing, I convinced myself. I would kneel for a moment and then head home and back to my normal life. A friend stood up in front of the crowd and challenged us to think about what we were doing there during the 9 minutes. He encouraged us to feel uncomfortable. I thought it was a bit extreme. It's just 9 minutes after all!The 9 minutes began. I got my phone out to make sure I documented it. To be honest, I was more concerned with getting just the right photo that would look good on Instagram then I was about taking in the moment. After a few different tries, I felt successful in my efforts to document it. But then I looked around and nobody else was worried about getting the right photo. They knelt, silently, reverently.So I put the phone away.Soon the 9 minutes felt like 9 hours. I kept waiting to be told the time was up and we could all go home. But it kept dragging on and on and on.As the seconds seemed to be stalled, I started to think about the reason we were there. I thought about George Floyd. The images of the video ran through my head. 9 minutes with a knee on his neck. 9 minutes. So short but so long.For 9 minutes he was pinned to the ground under the force of someone who was charged to protect him. For 9 minutes his breath, the very thing that everyone deserves to have, was slowly taken from him. For 9 minutes he was treated as less than human. For 9 minutes he struggled, wondering why these men of the law were killing him.For 9 minutes his life flashed before his eyes. For 9 minutes all his dreams and hopes for the future vanished. For 9 minutes he, a grown man, cried out for his mom. For 9 minutes, he became a victim of hate.For 9 minutes he went from discomfort to pain. For 9 minutes he begged for mercy, "I can't breathe," he cried. For 9 minutes they took from him the one thing that makes us all human: breath.For 9 minutes he was tortured. For 9 minutes he was lynched.In my 9 minutes kneeling in that park, I thought of his 9 minutes. I looked over to my 16-year-old son who is black. I thought of him. I thought of him being pinned down just because he was black. I thought of him, who is one of the kindest souls I know, being vilified because of his skin color. I thought of him struggling for his life for 9 minutes.9 minutes. So short. So long.9 minutes. So painful. So powerful.9 minutes that should never have happened. 9 minutes that happen too often. 9 minutes that we all now see.Yet 9 minutes that have woken up a world to injustice, to hate.9 minutes that call us all to action.

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