‘I can breathe’ tweet is a breath of fresh air

By Brian Greenspun (contact)

Sunday, April 25, 2021 | 2 a.m.

Mark Davis took responsibility for his tweet.

That, in itself, is a refreshing act of maturity in a world in which people blame others for “hacking their account,” or deny any knowledge of the offending words or, even worse these days, walk back their own words to the point that they might as well have kept their mouths shut in the first place.

Not the Las Vegas Raiders owner. He owned his words, he stands behind those words and he meant to say those words. How refreshing! How American!

And, oh by the way, he was right.

The irony of Davis’ tweet “I can breathe” on 4/20/21 should not be lost on a growing segment of the population that has been celebrating April 20 as a holiday of sorts for a very long time. But breathing in, holding it, and breathing out takes on a meaning very different from what 4/20 has come to mean in America.

Unfortunately, a few probably well-meaning people took umbrage with Mark’s tweet and took to the internet because they believed it showed disrespect for the anguish and heartache that consumed the family and, yes, this country following the tragedy of George Floyd’s death last year.

As happens in many emotionally charged events in America, I believe this attack on the Raiders’ boss was a wrongheaded reaction to an empathetic, passionate and emotional response to the Derek Chauvin jury verdict that validated America’s deep sense of right and wrong.

I, too, breathed easier when that jury reached a unanimous verdict in almost record time on all three counts against Chauvin. Those 12 people spoke loudly, clearly and unequivocally. And they spoke for our entire country.

There was no doubt — reasonable or otherwise — that what happened on May 25, 2020, was a travesty. Every thinking American — including policemen and women around the country — knew that the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis policeman amounted to homicide and that the cop who did it had to be punished.

What we didn’t know was whether our system of justice — a jury of 12 people good and true in the year 2021 — was up to the job.

I have to admit to my own concerns that the overheated political climate in the United States — the one that sees every decision, every thought and every action through the insanity of political polarization — would infect that jury to the degree that it would only take one person who couldn’t live up to his or her oath to make a mockery of justice.

We all saw the barricades go up, we watched businesses board up their windows, we saw police and National Guard members bracing for trouble and we witnessed a country on high alert. All of this was because we feared what might happen should a verdict tell the world that in the United States of America a man like George Floyd could be murdered in broad daylight with no repercussions to the killer.

Yes, I held my breath like everyone else in this country who believed that justice had to be done. I also held my breath because my legal training and my lifetime of experience told me that America’s faith in our system of justice was hanging in the balance. And I held my breath because I didn’t know whether citizens could take an oath and keep their word.

In the end, the jurors did what was right, what they swore to do and what our jury system demands of each of us. And by doing so, they told the world — which includes all Americans — that our faith in the justice system is well-placed and intact.

And, knowing that, I, too, can breathe — a huge sigh of relief.

Brian Greenspun is editor, publisher and owner of the Sun.