“I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe. Oh mama, mama.”

Those words were uttered from George Floyd this week as he lay helpless on the pavement while a Minneapolis PO kept his entire body weight on the neck of him for over seven minutes.

Seven minutes.

Floyd eventually passed out and died a short time later at a local hospital.

The whole thing was caught on video by bystanders. Bystanders who begged the officer to get off his neck and let him breathe. Bystanders who were held at bay by other officers as they watched the injustice. Bystanders who watched in horror as a young man gets murdered by someone who is hired to protect.

It’s heartbreaking, senseless and deplorable.

Floyd begged for mercy. Floyd begged for his life. Floyd begged for air. Floyd begged for the loving arms of his mama.

I almost feel guilty for breathing today since that is all Floyd asked for as his own blood ran from his nose and darkness filled his eyes.

I’ve seen police cruelty and brutality in videos before but something sets this one apart. Whatever this man’s sins against man’s laws was, there is no justification for what that officer did to him. How can one have so much hate for another man that you would intentionally cause him to die? How can a person who possesses a soul be so callous and careless to another human being?

I don’t know what it is but my breathing today is on my mind. My breaths — I’m not taking for granted. My lungs — heaving in my chest — remind me how precious oxygen is to our bodies.

I can’t help it, I feel guilty. I wish I could share my air with Floyd.