-- By Tom Phillips
2020 was an epic year for news, but not for noble speeches. The Quotes of the Year were more like the oaths of warriors in combat: bravado, trash talk, mayday calls, dying gasps and pleas for mercy.
What they said:
"It is what it is.." Donald Trump on August 31,
downplaying US deaths from Covid-19 ".. because you
are what you are." Joe Biden,
blaming him in the first presidential debate September 29.
“I can’t breathe.” George Floyd, as he lay dying under the knee of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin May 25. When Biden was declared president-elect November 7, CNN commentator Van Jones broke down on camera, weeping for his children and friends. "It wasn't just George Floyd," he said through a flood of tears. "A lot of people …felt they couldn't breathe."
"Kill me!" Luis Vasquez, a neighborhood resident who fired gunshots into the air in front of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York, following a Christmas concert on the Cathedral steps December 12. Police shot him dead. The gunman's sister said he'd been "damaged" by prison time in the 1990s, and his mental state had worsened in the pandemic.
