George Floyd: The Root of All Issues

(Written May 30, 2020)

As if 2020 is not already disastrous with the spread of coronavirus, we have seen escalated racial discrimination, and multiple deaths of black people due to inhumane police brutality rooted in systemic racism. Over the last few weeks, the cases of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and the Coopers in Central Park demonstrate the racial discrimination that is still happening today.

On May 25, 2020, two police officers from Minnesota pulled up to a grocery store to investigate the passage of a counterfeit 20 dollar bill. They were told by the personnel in the store that the man who passed the counterfeit bill was parked in a car around the corner. The police drove around the corner and parked in front of George Floyd’s car. Along with George Floyd, there was a man and a woman in the car. The officer pointed his gun at Floyd and motioned him out. Floyd resisted the officers from handcuffing, but became compliant afterwards. They wanted to take him into the car, but he refused. At the moment, two more police officers arrived in a car, and came out. Among them was Derek Chauvin. Three of the officers brought Floyd down, with his face to the ground. Chauvin had his knee in Floyd’s neck and was standing on him for a total of nine minutes, even when Floyd constantly said,

"I can't breathe. Please." - George Floyd

Later, upon being brought to the hospital, Floyd was pronounced dead. Floyd’s death was caught on camera and was shared on social media which sparked outrage throughout the nation. Protests swelled in large cities around the nation, some peaceful, but some destructive. Among those who were protesting for Floyd, there were those who took this as an opportunity to spread anarchism by destroying public property, looting stores, and setting cars and buildings on fire. For the past five days, these looters have been drawing attention away from the message of Floyd’s death. The nation just witnessed two wrongs: the officer’s knee on Floyd’s neck, and the opportunistic looters who stole from the heart of the message of the peaceful protesters. As the saying goes, two wrongs don’t make a right. Why does this occur in society?

At the root, this is due to leaders not setting a right example and upholding their duty. The leaders of society are in a unique position because they influence the citizens of the nation. This is explained in BG 3.21:

“Whatever action a great man performs, common men follow. And whatever standards he sets by exemplary acts, all the world pursues.” - Bhagavad Gita 3:21

When the leaders of society do not follow their dharma (duty) and maintain a negative influence, citizens become disturbed and the result is widespread quarrel. This is summed up in the purport to SB 1.10.25: “But at times, due to the influence of the ignorance [...], the lowest of the material modes, kings and administrators come into power without knowledge and responsibility, and such foolish administrators live like animals for the sake of their own personal interest. The result is that the whole atmosphere becomes surcharged with anarchy and vicious elements. Nepotism, bribery, cheating, aggression and, therefore, famine, epidemic, war and similar other disturbing features become prominent in human society.”

The main fault in the leaders of today is that they do not follow the four regulative principles, and are not learned in scripture. According to SB 1.12.26, the king, or the leader is supposed to be the wisest personality: “The sages are called wise men, and there are different types of wise men for different branches of knowledge. Unless, therefore, the king or the head of the state is the wisest man, he cannot control all types of wise men in the state.” Naturally, people want to look up to the leaders of the society and the law enforcers, but when unknowledgeable and unrighteous people are enthroned, people only breed contempt. Thus the relationship between the leaders of society, the advisors, and the citizens becomes uncongenial.

The age we live in, Kaliyuga, is characterized by hypocrisy and quarrel. People in this age lie, behave stubbornly, and quarrel with each other constantly. That is simply the nature of Kali. The root causes of these issues are attachment to intoxication, illicit relationships, gambling, and slaughterhouses. Real leaders, like Pariksit Maharaj, a famous Vedic ruler, are wise due to culminating devotional service and thus they have the intelligence to subdue the quarrelsome people. It is written in the purport of SB 1.12.26, “Wise rulers of all states should take lessons from Mahārāja Parīkṣit in how to maintain peace and morality by subduing the upstarts and quarrelsome people who indulge in wine, illicit connections with women [or men], gambling and meat-eating supplied by regularly maintained slaughterhouses. In this Age of Kali, regular license is issued for maintaining all of these different departments of quarrel.” Since the modern leaders allow people to flourish in destructive practices, how will peace ever be attained?

It is again said in the purport that the only way that current leaders can achieve peace in the society is to “follow the principles of becoming wiser by devotion to the Lord, by chastising the breaker of discipline and by uprooting the symptoms of quarrel, as mentioned above.” Therefore, the leaders of society should follow the four regulative principles, and set an example that is worth following by the people of the state. And even more importantly, they should cultivate loving devotional service for the Lord. The only way we can escape the inherent nature of Kali is by surrendering unto the Supreme Lord.

Surrendering to God means accepting that invisible thread which connects all living beings, despite bodily differences, race, gender, etc. Such a surrender is a supremely unifying action. As watering the root replenishes the leaves, serving God nourishes all living beings.

By surrendering unto the Lord and serving Him, leaders of society will be revealed the highest knowledge and will become wise. Additionally, leaders should always refer to the Bhagavad Gita as the example by which they lead their nation. This is advised in the purport of SB 1.10.22, “The scriptures, however, supply the clue for understanding the real position, but men are reluctant to take lessons from the scriptures created by the Lord for different places and times. For example, the Bhagavad-gītā is the guiding principle for all human beings, but by the spell of material energy they do not take care to carry out the programs of life in terms of the Bhagavad-gītā.” The steps for world leaders to take are:

• Follow the four regulative principles

• Perform devotional service to the Supreme Lord

• Lead the nation through the teachings of pure scriptures such as Bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam

• Actively chastise the up-starters: those who disrupt peace

Unless world leaders actively make these changes, then society's problems will remain unsolved. Problems may appear solved at a certain moment, but they always arise again, just like how someone reopens a healing wound. The nation fought an entire war for the removal of slavery and discrimination, but the past week brings glimpses of a life from 1967. Racial discrimination, anarchism, famine and epidemic- nothing will solve until the leaders of the society establish the above mentioned principles to lead the citizens of the country with peace and morality.

But can we control the unfortunate actions of the leaders of society? Perhaps not, but we can use our rights as citizens to promote leaders who exhibit the right values and morals. Most importantly, however, we can all cultivate service to God and to the rest of humanity, especially for all people in society who are being brutally oppressed and discriminated against.

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If you are more interested in learning about the Vedic scriptures which I have referred to in this article, please click through the links below:

Bhagavad Gita - https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/

Srimad Bhagavatam - https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/

Thanks for reading,

Sreshta Appalabattula