Thoughts on the Murder of George Floyd and The Country's Response

Chris Albert 00:00:01 (link to this point)

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Let's get into today's programming.

This is Chris Albert, and I'm here to remind you of one thing. Someday, you're going to die. That's not some morbid statement or scary idea. It's solid fact. Your time here on this earth is limited.

And we need to be reminded of this as much as possible for one simple reason, to live your best life while you can. This is the Warrior Soul podcast.

You know, the world seems like it's going a little bit crazy right now. We just dealt with a global pandemic, and almost as important as the global pandemic was the response that completely shut down our economy, kept people out of their jobs, kept people from running their businesses. And then it seems as if that global pandemic has just disappeared from media view, and now we are focused on riots jumping up around the country in response to the tragic and horrific murder of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis, Minnesota police officer. You know, before I get into this, I wanna say this. What happened to George Floyd was an absolute disgrace.

It was disgusting. The officer involved in kneeling on George Floyd's neck should be put up for first degree murder. The officers who covered for him, who watched out for him, they were complicit. There is no ifs, ands, or buts about that. There was no evidence that George Floyd was resisting.

There was no evidence that they needed to use deadly force for any reason. And for those of you out there who have served in the Marine Corps and the Army or who have served in a combat zone, you know that if you take a life under the wrong circumstances, it's you that gets punished, but it's not just you. It's anybody who is there, your your squad leader, probably your commanding officer. Pretty much everybody in your chain of command is going to catch some sort of punishment for that. Beyond that, it places a black eye on the service that you are representing at the time.

And it's tragic when things like that happen because, you know, there are so many good police officers out there, so many good cops who want to protect their communities, who want to do a good job, who want to protect life. But as situations tend to do in this day and age, this has turned from being about George Floyd and his death to a series of massive violent demonstrations throughout the country. And I guess a question comes up in your mind, what is the average person supposed to do here? What am I supposed to do? And, of course, things like this bring up emotion because you see what happened to George Floyd, and that should make you angry.

And you see these bands of people roaming around, destroying property, many of whom are spoiled white college kids who are wearing designer ninja outfits. And, you know, that should make you angry too because those people are are destroying communities. And they're they're not they're they're destroying the very communities that felt the hardest impact of George George Floyd's death. So, you know, what are we supposed to do? What are we supposed to do here? I think the first thing is something that that should come easy to us. It should it should, you know, roll off of our tongues when when it happens, but we should be able to call out evil when we see it. Right? There there is evil in this world. There's good and there is evil.

And, of course, there's a lot of gray in between, and you guys know that. But when we see evil, such as that officer kneeling on George Floyd's neck until he dies for for eight minutes, we need to call that out for what it is. We need we need to say that was evil. That was a horrible act. That was an act that deserves punishment to the highest degree.

And we need to be very vocal about that. We also need to be very vocal about the fact that those people who are destroying urban communities around the country, well, that's evil as well. And we need to be vocal about that too. And of course, words only go so far. Alright?

When you see evil, you can't just talk it away. Right? There's gotta be action involved. You've gotta stand up to it. And of course, I'm not advocating that you go out and get into open arms combat with these groups of roving people unless they're coming to your neighborhood and destroying your property, in that case, I think you have a right to protect yourself, protect your home, and protect your family. But what can we do? We've got to take action of some sort.

And I think it comes in two ways here. Number one, we need to be asking questions. So we need to ask questions of our public officials. Why have these policies not changed? Why does this these why do these acts of police brutality continue?

And again, I don't wanna overstate the problem. Right? There are many police forces around the country who are doing a fantastic job. But when a case like this happens, of course, it gets tons and tons of media visibility. Of course, people get very angry very emotional about it, and rightfully so.

And we need to ask, why is this happening? Why aren't our police officers being trained? Why doesn't a police officer understand that if he kneels on somebody's neck for eight minutes, that person has the potential to die. I mean, that's something I learned within a few days of practicing jiu-jitsu. Right?

That's that's something we need to be thinking about. Another question we should be asking is why are police chiefs around the country right now stepping aside as looters go into to stores and businesses that people have spent their entire lives building up, why are police chiefs around the country directing their officers to step aside as those looters go in and and destroy those businesses? Right? If we can't rely on our police force to, number one, be honest brokers when it comes to the use of force. Right?

We can't rely on our police officers to to protect our communities. We can't rely on our police officers to to protect us. Then who are we gonna rely on? And this is a big reason why I am a big believer in the Second Amendment. I am not going to expect that if I set my business up or if I set my home up in a in a in an area where one of these riots is happening that I I can't reasonably expect that if a riot breaks out, the police force is going to protect me.

Right? And these are questions we should all be asking right now. Right? Why is the Second Amendment continually being questioned when in cases where there is a riot, property is getting destroyed? And I think that minority communities, black the black community should be asking this question above everybody else.

Right? If you can't rely on the police force to protect you, then why are we questioning the Second Amendment right now? And for this community and and, again, I I want you to understand that I I know there's many police officers who listen to this podcast, and that's a big reason why I'm doing this show right now. Because I know that there are so many good police officers. I know that there are so many out there who do this job for the right reason.

And it's with you guys that this change needs to occur. It's with all of us, of course, but you guys gotta step up. Right? Those of you who have served in the military particularly, because you understand the use of force. You understand the use of violence.

You understand the impact that it can have. Right? A lot of people think veterans are are more violent people than the average person, and that that that's not the case. It's the person who's never been put in that situation before that you've got to worry about. Right?

It's that person who doesn't understand that if they kneel on somebody's neck, that person might die. That's who you've to worry about, right? And what I would say is training is everything, right? And of course, I'm sitting here, and I'm not a police officer, I couldn't imagine doing the job that you do. Right?

I can't dictate how you're doing it, but I think we need to bring in the experts, the people who know, and that needs to happen. And again, who the hell am I? Right? I'm nobody. I'm just a freaking dude with a freaking microphone and a computer.

But I think on a larger basis with the veteran community, What do we do? What are we supposed to do? And it's it goes back to what I've been saying all along here. All of us need to step up. Every single one of us.

It doesn't matter if you're a police officer. It doesn't matter if you're a salesman. It doesn't matter if you're you're you're an executive, it doesn't matter if you're a gas station attendant, every single one of us needs to step up. We need to be leaders in our communities. We need to be running for office.

We need to be we need to be actively seeking out board seats. We need to be actively trying to take a role in our children's education. We need to be actively trying to take a role in the development of our communities. If we don't do that, we can't expect to say that when things like this happen, and we're watching the world fall apart around us, we can't just sit there and point the finger and say, Hey, it's this person's fault or that person's fault. It's all of our faults.

If we didn't step up, if we didn't actively try to take a role in our community, that's our fault just as much as anybody else's, because we are allowing the world to crumble around us. You know, this stuff makes me just as angry as it probably does you. And, you know, one thing I learned in the military because I served with people of all races, of so many different religions. I I said this in a post yesterday. The military was the only place that I'd ever met a pagan and a Wiccan, and we had a pagan and a Wiccan in my platoon when I was in boot camp.

And they got to go and they got to do their own their own thing on Sunday, And it was it was an interesting thing. Right? I can't tell you how you know, I've been on college campuses. I've been in so many places, the military was one of the most diverse places that I'd ever been. And we, as veterans, know what it's like to cooperate, cooperate with people of all races, all classes, all all religions.

And today, not this wasn't true when I was in today, all sexual orientations. And I think that we need to build off of that. We need to show the rest of the world what can happen if we all cooperate. You know, if you put a uniform on, it doesn't matter what your color of your skin was, it doesn't matter what your religion was, who you call your God, doesn't matter how much money your family was earning. If you put a uniform on and you put your life on the line for this country, you're my brother and you're my sister.

That's the way it is. And I think we need to build off of that. This is a really emotional podcast for me. I obviously, you know, don't want to bar what I'm saying here, but I don't also don't want what I'm saying here to be misconstrued, so I'm being very careful about what I'm saying. And I hope that you guys understand where I'm coming from on this.

You know, if you are a police officer out there currently putting your live life on the line for us, you know, I thank you. I thank you for the work you do. And I'm sorry that that one bad cop or or or a few bad cops get in the way of the job you're trying to do. And I'm sorry that they put a black eye on your entire force, but the same with all of us who served. If somebody did something wrong in the Marine Corps, it was a black eye in the Marine Corps, and we all had to deal with it.

And it's time that that type of accountability is brought to bear on policing around the country. Alright? Be safe out there, guys. You know, if you can, be kind to people. Alright?

Well, you should always be kind to people. You should always be teaching your children properly. You should always be on the lookout for people in need, people you can help, and, you know, above all, your family tight. These are difficult times, but if we stay together, we're all gonna get through them. This is Chris Albert with the Warrior Soul podcast.

I'll be back at you later on this week with some more awesome content, and I am out.