Say Their Names
“How many times do I have to kill before I get a name in the paper?” complained a murderer in a letter to the Wichita police (1978)
— in Leo Braudy’s The Frenzy of Renown
1.
The murderer’s delusion wasn’t new.
People have been obsessed with getting their names widely known for centuries.
A friend of a friend of Cicero in fact wrote a book called
On Persons of the Same Name
on how not to let some random name-mate
claim your fame.
2.
Sometimes we deny a name to those
we wish did not exist
as FDR was
“That Man in the White House” to the rich.
“I did not have sex with That Woman,” Clinton forcefully declared
— although now we can’t forget her name
because we know he did.
The scandal was named after me, said Monica –
now beautiful and nearing 50 –
so after grad school I couldn’t get a job. “Monica Lewinsky” was
fat-shamed, slut-shamed, rapped-on for decades
and still is. People suggested she change her name,
but she thought not. No one suggested he change his,
she gently pointed out. At which the audience exploded.
3.
We do sometimes use as shorthand, though.
“George Floyd” these days is shorthand for “systemic racism”
while “George Washington” stands (or used to stand)
for “public rectitude.” The best thing that George ever did
was yield when his time was up
which is the hallmark of democracy,
now threatened. So one hates to mention it, but, um …
now we learn that on his deathbed, Mr. Founder
couldn’t stop stalking a woman who’d escaped him
whom he thought he owned. Statues coming down,
heroes unhorsed, genocidal inclinations uncovered
in heretofore-admired explorers …
“Say his name!” shouts the speaker, and
the crowd roars back “GEORGE FLOYD!”
The woman our Founder couldn’t stop chasing
was Ona Judge Staines.
Say her name.
4.
George Floyd didn’t know his killer’s name.
He called him “Mr. Officer” and also “man”
alternately appealing to their common humanity
and signaling his harmlessness with a double honorific.
Please, Mr. Officer, he begged
can you just not shoot me, man? Please, please, please
I’m so sorry
I didn’t know.
Daniel Pantaleo killed Eric Garner
(I wouldn’t do nothing to hurt you, Mr. Officer.)
Jonathan Mattingly, Brett Hankison and Myles Cosgrove shot Breonna Taylor
(I’m scared as fuck, man)
Jeronimo Yanez killed Philando Castile
(My face is gone)
Timothy Loehmann killed Timir Rice
(Why this going on like this?)
Aaron Dean killed Alatiana Jefferson
(I can’t breathe, Mr. Officer! Please!)
David Reid killed Aura Rosser …
You’re going to kill me, man,
George Floyd told his murderer.
Then stop talking, Derek Chauvin said.
It takes a lot of oxygen to talk.
Now everyone knows his name.