By Rev. Dr. Wendell Anthony
As we approach the fifth anniversary of the murder of George Floyd, May 25, 2020, we must not fall victim of any attempt to rewrite history. Once again State Representative Josh Schriver (R-Oxford, Mich.), has overdosed in epic proportions on misinformation.
In a recent post on X, Schriver stated that George Floyd’s death was caused by an overdose of fentanyl and Officer Derek Chauvin was wrongly jailed. In reading the full 20-page autopsy report, released by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner, June 30, 2020, it clearly states Mr. Floyd died from “cardiopulmonary arrest from law enforcement subdual restraint and neck compression,” not an overdose of fentanyl.
Schriver and the other conspiracy theorists cherry picked one page from the 20-page report stating that Floyd had traces of fentanyl and methamphetamine in his system. For those who do not remember that tragic day in May, Officer Derek Chauvin was captured on video placing his knee on Mr. Floyd’s neck for over nine minutes during that fatal arrest. Expert witnesses called by prosecutors during the trial concluded that Floyd did not die of an overdose or drug use. They reported that any underlying medical problems and drug use revealed in the autopsy report do not change the conclusion that Floyd’s death was a homicide.
This is not the first blog of misinformation and intentional distortion to rewrite history by Representative Schriver. This is the same Schriver, a graduate of Michigan State University and a former teacher, who wrote to his own constituents on June 17, 2023, “Our founding fathers had a very different vision of what government is supposed to look like. Thomas Jefferson, Abe Lincoln, Ben Franklin and other architects of the U.S. Constitution supported a government with checks and balances.”
We are calling a check on this rhetorical nonsense. Mr. Schriver is attempting to imbalance and distort history. In case he has forgotten, the U.S. Constitution was written in 1787. Abe Lincoln would not be born for another 22 years in 1809. For Lincoln to write the Constitution, it would really create an imbalance in our historical database. This is the same State Legislator who talked about his Christian beliefs yet at the same time wallows in the Great Replacement Theory.
This theory, linked to white supremacists, believes that Black and brown people are replacing white Americans and Europeans in our population. It is being done through immigration or interracial relations. This theory is similar to ideologies in Nazi, Germany, and was also espoused in the old racist apartheid regime of South Africa. It is uttered in white nationalists’ demonstrations like the traumatic torch bearing gathering in Charlottesville where the marchers cried out, “You will not replace us.”
State Representative Noah Arbit (D-West Bloomfield) said at the time, “It was the same dangerous, hate-filled rhetoric that caused the terrorists on Jews in Pittsburgh/Poway, Black people in Buffalo, and Muslims in Christchurch.” Former Michigan House Speaker Joe Tate posted a statement indicating, “Schriver’s words were blatantly racist. Perhaps most disturbing is that his post uplifts a dangerous and tortured narrative that fosters violence and instability. His callus and reckless act is not within the spirit of what Michigan is and contributes to a hostile environment.”
During this racist diatribe of Representative Schriver, Governor Gretchen Whitmer said, “The abhorrent rhetoric pushed by a member of the Michigan House of Representatives goes against our state and national values. We have a moral obligation to speak out against hatred. It is a failure of leadership for this kind of action to take place unchecked by the leaders of Representative Schriver’s caucus and the longer there is no action taken, the more responsibility leadership bears. We will never let those who stoke racial fears divide us.”
Representative Stephanie Young is correct as she stood on the floor of the Michigan House and said, “We have an opportunity to stand up against those who try to rewrite history. There is no question as to what happened. Derek Chauvin held his knee on George Floyd for over nine minutes. This man called for his mother and said, ‘I can’t breathe.’ When I heard my colleague and what he said, it took my breath away. Shame on you. Get your facts straight. Know this, we are not going to ever be silent when lies like this and when opportunities arise in their minds to rewrite history. We are just not going to stand for it.”
As we witness the attacks to rewrite the history of African Americans, Latinos, women, and others in this nation, we must not stand for it. As they ban books, shut down libraries, intimidate universities, extort law firms, and attempt to divide us as a people, we must not stand for it. We must not allow the knee of American discrimination, racism, and bigotry to choke the very life out of American resistance, determination, and integrity.
Let us remember the words of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “There is little hope for us until we become tough-minded enough to break loose from the shackles of prejudice, half-truths, and downright ignorance. The shape of the world today does not permit us the luxury of soft mindedness. A nation or a civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on an installment plan. The time is always right to do what is rig