In reviewing the new post, I discovered this DRAFT that was never published. As we approach Holy Week, it is timely as the sins of the past still occur in our day to day.
"ALL mothers were summoned when HE called out for his MAMA"
https://georgefloydstreetart.omeka.net/items/show/1390
Throughout this pandemic time, I've been plagued with insomnia. At first it was something I fought, then embraced the quiet solitude to embark on questions that led me down deep rabbit holes. Questions entered my brain that could not be ignored. One such question was a comparison of the last words of George Floyd and the last words of Jesus. I found resources for both and they appear below with credit for each compilation at the bottom. May it give you pause and compel social action. A drive to be educated, a drive to learn the rest of the story regarding our collective human history and a drive to make changes in large and small ways that will have a ripple effect into future generations. Peace. MDM
When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved
standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Dear woman, here is your son,"
and to the disciple, "Here is your mother."
1. Mama, mama, mama!
“When George Floyd called for his mother, he was calling for all of us,” said a friend
of mine who is the mother of a young Black son. When Jesus was dying on the cross, he
looked to his mother, Mary, commending her to John’s care. We can only imagine how
Mary felt to see the life slowly leaving her son’s body. In his last moments, Mr. Floyd
cried out for the woman who brought him into this world as he realized he was being
ripped out of it.
"I am thirsty." (As translated in the New Living Translation (NLT.)
2. Please, man.
When Jesus was on the cross, he appealed to his tormentors to quench his thirst.
Mr. Floyd appealed to the humanity of his tormentor to save his life. He was already on
the ground and restrained. He was not a threat. This plea echoes the signs of the 1960s
strikes when working-class Black people asserted their dignity by simply saying, “I am a
Man!” It also echoes the appeal of Sojourner Truth for persons to see and value her
humanity by saying, “Ain’t I a Woman?”
I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."
3. You’re going to kill me, man!
Mr. Floyd told Chauvin he was dying and pleaded with him to stop. As the trial goes on,
we are hearing the damning testimony of persons who all say they know they witnessed a
murder — an assassination perpetrated by white supremacy at the hands of the police.
How many times have we heard deadly force being justified because of a perceived threat
or a need to stand one’s ground? We remember the witnesses of Jesus’ march to Golgotha
and Simon of Cyrene who did his best to help our Lord.
“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
4. I can’t believe this.
Floyd’s disbelief that a transaction with an alleged counterfeit bill could cost him his life.
The shock from emergency personnel who clearly saw the signs of distress yet were not
allowed to render assistance. The horror of rookie police officers out on their training
patrol witnessing a superior crushing the life out of a restrained suspect. We all cannot
believe the cruel brutality of white supremacy—yet it plays before our collective eyes daily
with its deadly consequences. We remember the brutality of the Roman Empire and the
fact that Jesus’ execution was an example of the continued assurance of their supremacy
through brutal oppression.
Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."
5. Tell my kids, I love them.
Floyd had a life before he became a martyr, a slogan and a T-shirt image. He was a friend,
a son and a father. Behind every victim of racism is collateral damage — grieving children,
a heartbroken community, the lost potential of what could and should have been. Even
though his death has become a symbol of the cost of institutional racism for Black people,
George Floyd was a real man with real people who mourn him and have been robbed of
his presence in their lives. We remember Jesus’ human relationships and the grief of his
loved ones that often get lost and forgotten in the course of Jesus as a symbol of divine
love.
"Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." When he had said this, he breathed his last.
6. I’m dead.
Between 1920 and 1938, the New York branch of the NAACP hung a flag outside of its
office emblazoned with the words, “Another man was lynched today.” In 2015, the flag
was revived and updated to say, “Another man was lynched by police today.” Jesus’ death
was a public lynching complete with a gambling show. The world has borne witness to
Floyd’s lynching — many anguished, others cheering and some nonchalant — in the same
way the spectators watched Jesus hang his head on Golgotha as the sun set.
... he said, "It is finished!"
7. I can’t breathe!
The most well-known phrase that embodies how white supremacy has strangled the life out
of Black people globally through the trans-Atlantic slave trade (Maafa), colonialism,
apartheid, segregation and a litany of other terms associated with white supremacy and
anti-Blackness. It was first seared into our memories when we watched Eric Garner have
the life choked out of him. On May 25, 2020, over 600 years of global anti-Blackness
seemed distilled into a single moment as a white cop ripped the spirit out of a Black man.
We remember Jesus committed his spirit to God as his lungs collapsed from the crucifixion.
https://religionnews.com/2021/04/02/on-this-good-friday-let-us-reflect-on-the-seven-last-words-of-george-floyd/ - John Thomas III
Fairchild, Mary. "7 Last Words of Jesus." Learn Religions, Aug. 27, 2020, learnreligions.com/7-last-words-of-jesus-700175.
