A Second Life Memorial to George Floyd's Murder -- And a Plea Not to "Move On" From It

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

On this day, just three years ago, George Floyd was murdered and the clarion call of “Black Lives Matter” that began with Trayvon Martin’s murder spread far and wide. It even looked like there was a sea change happening. Sadly a lot of the energy behind that has since been dissipated.

Jupiter Firelyte's picture above, “Say Their Names”, could be interpreted as capturing that “moving on” sense. The avatar is walking past a mural of murdered Black people without pausing in much the same way most of us move on, because it’s not an existential threat to us. She posted it in September 2020, when politicians were afraid to speak in favor of police reform and we decided silently, one by one, that order was more important than law. 

For a tribute to the Black Lives Matter protests, click here:

“The Times They Are A Changing (His Name Was George!) is from June 2020 and captures some of the feeling at that time. The name of the picture has become ironic. I am sure Alsatian Kidd was as hopeful as many of us were that finally, the world was recognizing the racist impunity that is foundational to American policing. 

Three years ago, George Floyd was murdered, and since then, many more Black men like him have been killed in highly suspect circumstances by law enforcement.

We all saw how unworried Floyd’s killer Chauvin was at first, assuming that he would be protected. The initial press release from the police said Floyd died from a medical incident during a police interaction. They soon deleted the false report, but the Web Archive has it. Without the video that made their report an obvious cover-up, none of us would say his name.

Relatedly, the Second Life Flickr group called Black Lives Matter has since been overrun by fashion photos and pornography that have nothing to do with its original purpose when it was created in 2020.

Sadly, this happens often. People create groups and then leave Flickr, leave Second Life, or maybe, just get busy and forget about it. It might be a good idea to close submissions or appoint a new administrator before bowing out.  I am more disheartened though by the feeling that The Times They Are Not A Changing. 

All images copyright their respective photographers. 

See all of Cajsa's Choices here. Follow Cajsa on Flickr, on Twitter, on her blog, and on her Ko-Fi.

Suggest images and Flickr feeds to Cajsa: Cajsa’s Choices is devoted to unique, artistic, and innovative virtual world-based images and screenshots that showcase the medium as an art form and Second Life as a creative platform. (Generally not images that fit on this Bingo card.) To recommend the best in virtual world imagery, tag the picture with #CasjaNWN or tag Cajsa Lilliehook by adding her to the photo. 

Cajsa Lilliehook is a sixteen year resident of Second Life, where she owned a photo studio, spent several years as a DJ at The Velvet, and for her first SL job, cleaned up prim trash. She co-founded and runs the It’s Only Fashion blog with her best friend Gidge Uriza. She also has a book review blog, Tonstant Weader Reviews and a cooking blog, Single Serving Recipes. She spends a lot of time researching and reporting on Republican sexual predators. In her first life, she is a retired grassroots leader who has worked for economic and social justice issues most of her life. She is also the minion of a cat named Nora. 

 

Comments

[Luther Weymann]

BLM is one of the greatest all-time black scams in history. Black businesses were destroyed, donations stolen, zero record of any BLM help to the black community, and monuments erected to criminals. Only humans could be this stupid.

[Puss N Boots]

Good article. The group "has since been overrun by fashion photos and pornography"
is where all rivers eventually run in Second Life. Someone's dead? Let's have a dance or do a benefit fashion event. No lives matter except mine.

Luther is sadly right about the scam. It's the controlled hellscape that we live in. All things will be co-opted and fed to the lions of capitalism and the woke warriors of SL will censor and demand everything be reduced down to a dance and a titillating leather ensemble.

[Jupiter]

Thank you for using my photo, Cajsa. I think the escapist nature of SL means that many "real life" issues won't get much serious or long-lasting attention. On the other hand, what we see in SL often reflects what's going on elsewhere.