The Judge has spoken. A 22 and ½ year sentence. Parole eligibility in ⅔ of the sentence. Was justice for George Floyd served? Was this really a fair outcome for a helpless and restrained Black Man being murdered by the Police, as America watched and the world cried for justice? As Derek Chauvin stood with his hands in his pockets, defiantly and brazenly glaring directly into the camera, deaf to all the bystanders screaming for him to stop?
For Dr. Venus, the answer is no, justice wasn't served. However, it's not because of the sentence. It's about the fact that until we hold police truly accountable and see reform, it's truly an empty gesture. However, to understand this and see how real change can come about, we must understand how Whiteness protects itself and how systemic racism is very much here and alive today. Let's talk about it.
Key Takeaways:
[3:49] Dr. Venus discusses how the public murder of George Floyd broke her brain and changed her forever. Not because she didn't know history or cultural trauma, she is educated and deeply rooted in an understanding of it. But, because of how confident and brazenly Derek Chauvin was in taking a Black life, with spectators, in the middle of the day.
[6:22] Seeing this changed Dr. Venus in a way that couldn't and wouldn't let her go back to business as usual. How could a police officer, who is supposed to serve and protect his citizens, put his knee on the neck of a man for over 9 minutes with such cavalierness, looking into the camera as people screamed for him to stop?
[8:50] The world marched in protest, from Antarctica to Iceland. Dr. Venus felt as though real change had been made when she saw White women putting their bodies in front of Black Men and Women to protect them. Then, the election happened and she found out 56% of White women voted for Trump. Her feeling of defeat came less from it being about Trump and more from realizing that things hadn't changed as much as she expected and that to win at all, we needed to create our own structures and make our money in the game of capitalism.
[9:04] After George Floyd, Dr. Venus shifted her content away from marketing and more towards police reform and social change. She also took her focus away from the impact of White Supremacy on Black Men and Women, and the effect it had on society and started looking at it from their point of view. Finally, it made sense why Derek Chauvin could be so brazen. He has had law and privilege on his side and has had 19 prior examples that the law would back him up. It was just another example of systemic racism protecting its own.
[15:06] Dr. Venus discusses the effect of slavery throughout her bloodline. She has been the first one to go to high school, let alone college. The murder of George Floyd clearly showed us that the impact and institutions of White Supremacy, an ideology rooted in positioning yourself as superior, is still very much clearly at play.
[17:57] Dr. Venus talks about the Confederate Bible, where it was set up to create a level of belief and passion behind a group of people relating to themselves as God. They even accounted for history in a way that said slavery was a good thing for Black Men and Women, and remember history in a way that serves their narrative. It's important to read this and learn about it because you can't win unless you know what your opponent believes.
[23:03] Dr. Venus doesn't think justice was served for George Floyd. Not because of the sentence, but because we haven't dealt with how we are going to turn it around and create our own system. She is a patriot and loves America, and has even served in the military, and will join you in the marches, but Dr. Venus knows that we need to play at their level or higher in their own game — capitalism.
[25:02] This is why Dr. Venus is building her own digital platform, so we have our own outlets to have conversations rooted in honesty and truth without getting barred or trolled. As Black Women have a buying power of $3.8 trillion, we don't need White money and until we know that and create our own, we will always be enslaved.
[28:58] When we take our buying power and use it in a way that is for us and buy us, they lose money. They depend on us to buy from them and don't take us seriously so that we can really change things.
[30:11] We are awake and aware now, or at least Dr. Venus is. It's not about needing and hoping for favoritism or a break, it's about learning to fund a system ourselves that can have a lasting change for generations to come. Let's capitalize on capitalism and systemically make our own money.
[33:52] For Dr. Venus, it's about putting culture in the cloud and making money from what you know rather than what you do. For you, it can be real estate, business, or anything else.
[33:52] We need to stand up and deal with their ugly, and know that our brightness is beyond their ugly.
Quotes:
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