Black people have been wondering why white people and other non-black people have been riled so much by George Floyd's murder-- and not by videos of other police shootings.

I have a theory.

America watched black men get shot and killed.

America watched reporters get shot on camera.

Twenty *white* children were shot to death in Sandy Hook.

We went on with our lives. If George Floyd had been shot, I don't know if the disgust and outrage would have been there.

We sanitize our language and imagery around gunshot victims. Not many Americans see the damage bullets do to a body.

There was no way to sanitize the inhumanity of Derek Chauvin using his body to crush the breath out of George Floyd.

8:45 minutes of pure cruelty on display.

The white officer who shot Rayshard Brooks in the back--- also kicked Brooks as he lay dying on the ground.

There are many white men & women in this country who derive a sadistic pleasure from the destruction of black bodies.

Even while we are dying.

Even after we are dead.

The lynchings of black people were public entertainment.

White folks even made photographs and postcards of lynchings to send to friends.

When it comes to black people dying, America has long treated it as a titillating spectacle.

Being shot isn't as interesting, perhaps.

Perhaps now, what we finally see is a collective white shame and guilt about these cruelties.

So white people, you guys need to figure this out how to erase the emotional rewards of sadistic pleasure white people have long enjoyed in dominating and destroying black bodies.

In short, what Derek Chauvin and Garret Rolfe did to George Floyd and Rayshard Brooks was barbaric. Primitive.

The cruelty was the point.

Chokehold bans, body cams, and officer training won't fix the minds of the type of men who grin while crushing a person to death.

I will never forget that George Floyd called out for his late mother in the moments before he died.

And the whole world responded.

We got you, Big Floyd.