Mr. George Floyd had his home going service in Raeford, NC. I decided to ride out to give my respects, as well as, to document the rebellions that took place in and around Fayetteville, NC. I was curious to see Market House a former African Slave Market were you could bid on Black flesh by the pound during the souths heyday of ‘Cotton is King’ describing the plantation economy of the slavery states in the Deep South.
Market House is also Fayetteville, North Carolinas’ official logo. Attorney Mr. Allen Rogers wrote a letter asking Fayetteville, NC City Council 4 to remove the symbol from the city logo in April of 2015. “While the plaque affixed to it may offer a small measure of honor for the sacrifices of those sold there, this massive center piece poorly reflects the heart of this All American City.”
This brass marker was dedicated by the Fayetteville City Council in 1989 to the memory of Charles W. Chesnutt and the African Americans who were sold into slavery at The Market House. Read closely. Do you notice any discrepancies? Is there anything significant? What should be done, if anything?
On May 30, 2020 the Market House was allegedly burned down in a rebellion in response to the murder of Mr. George Floyd. According to a news release from U.S. Attorney Robert J. Higdon, Charles Anthony Pittman, of Fayetteville, was seen on camera showing a red gasoline canister to the crowd gathered in front of the Market House before pouring its contents throughout the building’s second floor. As Pitman ran out of the video, authorities said, the floor caught fire.
Needless to say I had to make it to Fayetteville, NC to see the building for myself. On my drive into Fayetteville, NC to document the after effects of the marginalized Black people uprising and taking agency of their destiny. I spotted a gigantic confederate flag, which represents racism, failure, and white supremacy for most people who look like me who are Black.
Designed by William Porcher Miles, the chairman of the Flag and Seal Committee of the Confederate Provisional Congress, the flag now generally known as the “Confederate flag” was initially proposed, and rejected, as the national flag in 1861. The design was instead adopted as a battle flag by the Army of Northern Virginia under General Robert E. Lee. Ironically the Lee statue at the heart of the Charlotsville, VA Confederate Statue debate which sparked an alt-right deadly march in August 2017 will be removed within the month.
As part of its “Flags Across the Carolinas” project, the North Carolina Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans unveiled a massive confederate flag along Interstate 95 in Cumberland County in April of 2017.
The massive 20-by-30-foot flag, which is on a pole about 90 feet in the air, sits just off the southbound lanes of the highway between mile marker 63 and 64 near Fort Bragg.
Fort Bragg, North Carolina, is a military installation of the United States Army in North Carolina, and, by population, is the largest military installation in the world with more than 50,000 active duty personnel. The installation is located within Cumberland, Hoke, Harnett and Moore counties.
Mr. George Floyd’s family, friends and community members packed a public viewing at Cape Fear Conference B Church in Raeford, North Carolina, in the town where Floyd was born not far from the massive confederate flag. Two members of North Carolina’s congressional delegation, each delivered remarks, as did Floyd’s family members.
Video of George Floyd’s arrest on May 25, 2020 shows a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, kneeling on Mr. Floyd’s neck while he was pinned to the floor. Officers were responding to a call alleging that Mr. Floyd used a fake $20 bill. Chauvin has since been charged with 3rddegree murder. Prosecutors this week added a new charge against Chauvin: unintentional second-degree murder. Initial charges of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter remain.
The other officers on the scene of Floyd’s murder, Tou Thao, Thomas Lane, and J. Alexander Kueng were arrested on June 3, 2020 after many days of uprising around the world. Only then did Chauvin receive an upgraded charge on June 4, 2020.
These efforts and concessions to placate the people are not enough. Agents of the state such as police officers rarely get convicted. The momentum should not waiver no matter how much of the movement becomes co-opted by mainstream media outlets. Which are demanding the the police be defunded.
This is absurd. Then what? A new state entity is formed in a few months with new forms of suppression and murder of the people. Or new powers are assigned to lets say ICE with new duties to brutally police the people. Or when more murders by the existing police who if defunded, will still have all of the military tactical gear to used upon the people once more when they rise up again against fascism sanctioned by the state. Of course none of these proposal have come up but these and more are possible maneuvers to be considered that could happen after defunding the police.
Since George Floyd’s murder by the Minneapolis, Minnesota police force on May 25, 2020 rebellions have sparked up in all of the 50 states in the United States.
Protests and rebellions were also sparked across the world. Protests have taken place in at least 40 countries and on all continents except Antarctica. The protests are taking place during the Coronavirus Pandemic, in response to systemic racism and police violence that is part and parcel of the United States judicial systems with the power and lack of morals creating laws which props up the neo slavery to the decedents of such slavery.
There are no coincidences in what I uncovered while simply trying to pay my respects to a Black man lynched by police. I have discovered what I have known for sometime. “Racism is nothing that Black people seek out racism lingers even when the flames are extinguished. The rebellions’ flames are extinguished but the embers are red for now as they should be, ready to go.”
