August 29, 2020
I came into this year with a prospective mind. 2019 was tortuous. I experienced ultimate highs and deep lows that are characteristic of someone with my condition. I saw the glory and beauty of New York City on Times Square rooftops. I also saw the dungeons of NYC and finessed my way out of the slow-moving judicial process.
2020 started off with a bang as every year does. The ball dropped, people rejoiced and woke up that morning to a slate of college football bowl games. The Oregon Ducks won the Rose Bowl in a nail-biter against the Wisconsin Badgers. Days later Joe Burrow showed his big dick energy and sent suspect Dabo Swinney home. I turned 26 and spent my last days in NYC with my brother and mother.
The month ended with a tragedy none of us expected. Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gigi and seven others died in a helicopter crash. The world stopped for a few days. One of the most influential figures of our time was taken from us and we didn’t know how to react. Fans mourned. Parents felt a particular type of way knowing Kobe likely held Gigi as the helicopter came crashing down, unable to protect her. Kobe’s death, although devastating in its own right would not prepare us for what was coming.
February, I moved to San Diego and was welcomed with an appetizing Super Bowl match-up. As Mahomes and the Chiefs came back and defeated the 49ers, a virus was spreading throughout the Eastern Hemisphere. Shutdowns commenced, economies suffered and people died. But that was over there, few believed the virus would invade the United States.
On February 19, the culture loses another solider. Pop Smoke is gunned down in a home invasion. He mistakenly posted his address to social media earlier in the day. His death sent shock waves through the rap community. At just 19-years-old Pop brought us bangers that will live on forever. Two iconic figures are gone in less than 30 days.
People want to hit the reset button on 2020, but March is around the corner and that brings arguably the greatest sporting spectacle in the United States: March Madness. Things have to get better.
They don’t. COVID-19 infiltrates our borders and life as we know it is changed forever. The NBA season is postponed. The NCAA Tournament is cancelled. Soon others leagues follow suit and sports are put on an indefinite pause. Not just sports, but life. Everything is shut down: bars, beaches, barbershops. Life becomes dull and boring. Few people understand the magnitude of what is happening.
While people are complaining about COVID and sports, something fishy is going on in Louisville, Kentucky. It involves the death of Breonna Taylor and three officers who faced few repercussions for what people are calling unjustified murder.
April is more of the same. Life consists of bong rips and HBO Max. Then comes May 5. On some calendars it reads “Cinco De Mayo.” Two things happen on this day that cause great distress. One of which affects me deeply and the other the world.
I didn’t know it until the next day, but my 18-year-old cousin Isaiah Rule died after being shot multiple times. Someone shot him and his two friends in my hometown in the same parking lot of the high school I graduated from. Their killer is still out there.
In unrelated events, thousands of miles away Gregory McMichael sends a video to a radio station in Brunswick, Georgia. The video recorded on February 23 shows McMichael and his son killing Ahmaud Arbery. McMichael and his son believed Arbery was committing crimes in the area. Their claims remain unfounded.
Arbery’s family says he was jogging through the neighborhood and was intrigued by a home under construction. Video shows him walking through the house and exiting it. The homeowner confirms nothing was taken.
Soon after, Arbery’s killers confront him and shoot him with a shotgun three times. He bleeds out and dies at the scene. The McMichaels are facing charges of felony murder and aggravated assault.
At the end of the month in Minneapolis, Minnesota, George Floyd is killed by officer Derek Chauvin while three other officers look on. An authentic $20 bill believed to be fake led to Floyd’s death. Chauvin presses his knee against Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes. All four men — now former officers— are facing charges.
In June, Rayshard Brooks is killed by Atlanta Police in a situation that could have easily been prevented. Soon after all hell breaks loose. Millions of infuriated people all over the world take to the streets to protest the deaths of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, Rayshard Brooks and the countless others killed by racists and police. The United States is on fire. Change, albeit how slow, seems like it is on the horizon.
August starts as a month of great promise. COVID is still prevalent but sports are back. Attention is diverted from the social movements and all eyes are on the NBA playoffs, the MLB season and the UEFA Champion League finals. But more agony is on the way.
The shooting of Jacob Blake on August 23 in Kenosha, Wisconsin reignites pent-up frustration. An officer shoots Blake seven times in the back. Sports are once again put on hold as players stop play as a form of protest.
AP Photo/Julio Cortez