A YEAR DRAGS BY

The New York Times covers it thoroughly, half the channels on tv are covering it, the community is buzzing loudly. Funny how 365 days can change the world so surprisingly, so drastically.
One piece at a time, the puzzle of the Derek Chauvin case continues to come together, for better or worse. So many unknown outcomes at our fingertips and yet we all feel a sense of helplessness, a sense of grief. A type of PTSD washes over Minneapolis as footage and details and words are released again of the murder of George Floyd. Watching testimonies and rewatching them bring tears to peoples’ eyes, pain to their hearts.
Have we gone anywhere in the last year, taken any steps forward in the last 12 months?
What do you want? Justice.
When do we want it? Now.
We watch our community continue the conversation. That’s a step forward.
We mourn another Black man being shot. That’s a step backward.
We celebrate Black artists and speakers as they rise to the top. That’s a step forward.
We cry when laws are passed to exclude community members. That’s a step backward.
So where has this last year taken us? Up and down, it seems. We continue to weather the storms of racism, homophobia, sideways politics, and more. Not to mention a world full of a sickness that has taken far too many lives.
George Floyd was a person with a story and a life, just like you and me. Let’s see if the next 365 days can better serve as a reminder of this to a broken world.
Abha Karnick is a south Minneapolis resident with East Indian roots who graduated from Hamline University in 2019. Her passion lies in storytelling and finding moments to capture.