TORONTO -- WARNING: This story contains links to a video with offensive language
A video showing an intense conversation between three generations of black men regarding the ongoing protests in the U.S. is making waves on social media and shedding light on the intergenerational trauma of police violence against black people.
Protests and riots have been spreading across the nation for days following widespread outrage over the death of a black man named George Floyd, who begged for air while a white Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck for more than 8 minutes.
Videos shared on social media from the protests show buildings going up in flames, police using tear gas on protestors and journalists being arrested. But one video, depicts the turmoil from another angle.
In the video, a 45-year-old black man in a white tank top tells a crowd that he is 鈥渢ired of seeing this s***!鈥�
A 31-year-old man, identified in a Twitter thread as Curtis Hayes, from Charlotte, N.C., says to him, 鈥淎nd you the older generation than me. And I am too!鈥�
The older man says that they鈥檝e been 鈥渟tanding around as the older ones, taking all this bulls***. [鈥 Always standing around for a Kumbaya. Ain鈥檛 nobody coming to protect us. We gotta start our own f* riots.
鈥淚t鈥檚 time to stand up,鈥� he adds later in the video. 鈥淚鈥檓 ready to die for what鈥檚 going on!鈥�
Hayes says he understands how the other man feels. But then he reaches into the crowd to pull a third person into the conversation: a teenager.
鈥淗e鈥檚 16!鈥� Hayes says. 鈥淗e鈥檚 16! [鈥 This ain鈥檛 the way! 鈥楥ause they ready to let loose. It鈥檚 the United States. The president say: 鈥榠f you loot, we shoot.鈥欌��
U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted on Friday that he鈥檇 spoken to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and that the military 鈥渋s with him all the way.
鈥淎ny difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts,鈥� the tweet finished. Twitter flagged the tweet as 鈥済lorifying violence,鈥� but did not take it down.
In the video, Hayes speaks directly to the teenager, telling him, 鈥淲hat you see right now is going to happen 10 years from now, and at 26, you going to be doing the same thing I鈥檓 doing.
鈥淪o what I need y鈥檃ll to do right now, at 16, is come up with a better way. Cause how we doing it, it ain鈥檛 working.鈥�
He then gestures to the older man.
鈥淗e angry at 46, I鈥檓 angry at 31, you angry at 16. [鈥 Putting yourself in harm鈥檚 way is not the way.鈥�
He mentions that he has a five-year-old son, and doesn鈥檛 want him to have to go through this.
The video has been viewed more than 18 million times
The conversation speaks to the ongoing crisis of police treatment of black people in the U.S., and the trauma of going through protest after protest with no real change.
During the protests over the past few days, some protestors have carried signs emblazoned with the names of black people whose death while in police custody have sparked mass protests in the past: Michael Brown, Philandro Castile, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner and others.
Derek Chauvin, the police officer who pressed his knee into Floyd鈥檚 neck while witnesses pleaded for him to stop, was arrested on Friday and is facing charges of third-degree murder and manslaughter.
Some of Floyd鈥檚 last words were, 鈥淚 can鈥檛 breathe,鈥� the same words spoken by Eric Garner in 2014, who died after an officer used a chokehold on him while attempting to arrest him for selling cigarettes.
