To the editor,

Oh. My. Gosh. We all know it’s out there. We know it’s more in the open since Trump. Many of us know it is systematic and underpins our nation’s social system. But to see such blatant racism expressed in our local newspaper is particularly unsettling. I am referring to Carol Fuller’s (“George Floyd is Not a Hero,” Pierce Co. Journal, 2-14-24) when she refers to “the war on cops is all about Black votes” (paraphrased).

George Floyd was unarmed, did not resist, and was involved in a petty crime involving less than $20. To watch his death and say he wasn’t murdered is out of ga-ga land. Ms. Fuller, here is why George Floyd is a hero: He reignited the Black Lives Matter movement. He assured there would be an outcry when gentle, boy-like Eiljah McClaine, who played his guitar for sheltered animals to calm them during his lunch break, was murdered by police and paramedics. And when unarmed Tyre Nichols was savagely beaten to death by cops as he cried in pain and called for his mother. And when Irvo Otieno was handcuffed, shackled, and like George Floyd, had the life snuffed out of him over the 12 agonizing minutes.

There are so many more: Jamar Clark, Philando Castille, Daunte Wright, Amir Locke, Freddie Gray, Breonna Taylor, Eric Garner, … Say their names.

George Floyd’s death impassioned the Black Lives Matter, not just in the U.S., but across the globe, including over 60 other countries. Ms. Fuller, certainly you realize that we can never say “all lives matter” until BLACK LIVES MATTER.

Jacqueline Murray Brux

Town of River Falls