KNEE pressed against his throat, George Floyd called for his mother.

Mama! Everyone knows that cry of desperation.

Every person who’s ever been pushed against the wall, to the floor, to his limits. It’s the call to be seen. To be seen as his mama once saw him. Pure, innocent, without prejudice.

But the world hardly sees anyone like that except for babies. Sometimes not even parents.

People don’t see you as you are. They see you as they are. And the further away from their value system you sit; the more you disagree with them; the more shallow they are; the higher you risk their knee on your neck.

You may as well be begging for it.

There’s a Derek Chauvin within us all. The arbiter of justice. The balancer of scales. The judge, jury, executioner, undertaker. We shall judge as we please, often as how the many please, because few like to diverge from the mob.

Most would cry in horror, were we to witness a line of a hundred people taking turns to kick a man on the ground. Yet we do the same when adding our vitriol to the already hundreds of scathing comments brutally reviling a local Miss Universe.

We treat the unknowns with courtesy and respect, and disgrace our kin with a closed mind. I believe it is because it is the creature’s nature to be kind to those with whom we can hide and pretend, and eagerly destroy those who can’t unsee the selfish, unkind monsters that we sometimes become.

There is a power we hold over each other. Money, love, authority, age. When greater, be gentle with the other who is not.

When weaker, beware the greater. For one wrong move and it could be you who aren’t able to breathe.

Now I ask you, metaphorically.

Is your knee, pressed against someone’s throat, slowly choking them to death? – June 10, 2020.

* Pravin Pillai reads The Malaysian Insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.