We are living in completely unprecedented times. Never have we witnessed worldwide protests to a single event as we have seen with the George Floyd murder.
I am old enough to remember the civil rights struggles and race riots of the 1960s along with the anti-war protests.
I remember 1968 when it seemed riots were happening somewhere in America for almost the entire summer.
I remember the beating of Rodney King, the subsequent trial and acquittal of the officers involved in that beating and the tension felt around the nation while we watched Los Angeles burn. We have all seen the horrific videos in recent years of unarmed black men and women dying at the hands of police. And there have been protests against many of these killings.
But never, never, never have I seen such a widespread and unified response not only in the United States but around the world as we have witnessed in reaction to the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. As I write this, we have seen almost two straight weeks of protest in the United States, even in the face of a pandemic, with no signs of stopping.
What is different?
