Finally, Justice For George Floyd And Black America
America is finally waking up to the horrors committed against black people. With Derek Chauvin's guilty verdict, the country must now act to prevent more killings.
(image: George Floyd’s family celebrate)
by Ben Cohen
To many of us, it was inconceivable that Derek Chauvin would be found innocent of murdering George Floyd in Minneapolis last year. It was impossible to watch the chilling video of the stony faced Chauvin slowly choking the life out of Floyd as he begged for his life and called out for his mother over nine tortuous minutes.
But not to Black America. African Americans understand all too well that police executions are rarely punished in this country. They do not believe that the police exist to help or protect them, and that their lives are basically expendable.
The data shows this to be true. Black Americans are according to a study by researchers from Harvard, 3.23 times more likely than white Americans to be killed by police. In some areas of the country, that number increases exponentially. In Chicago for example, the researchers found that black Americans were over 650% more likely to be killed by police than white Americans.
With cell phone cameras capturing hundreds of police executions of black Americans, the public is now seeing what the African Americans have been saying since the inception of this country: you are killing us. Please stop.
Filming black murder
Unarmed black Americans, are often shot for minor infractions. They are pulled over more frequently than other drivers and killed more frequently than all other racial groups. Black men are uniquely vulnerable to police violence, and cell phone footage now available to the public have revealed how many of them die.
In 46 year old George Floyd’s case, he was arrested for allegedly passing a counterfeit $20 bill, handcuffed and restrained on the floor by three officers. It was a crime he would pay for with his life.
Officer Derek Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck and put his full weight down on it for a total of 9 minutes and 29 seconds. We know this because Darnella Frazier filmed the encounter on her cell phone, and a crowd of witnesses watched the entire ordeal and begged Chauvin to stop killing Floyd.
During the last minutes of the killing, another officer, J. Alexander Kueng, was unable to find a pulse on Floyd. Chauvin was alerted to this fact yet continued kneeling on his neck. The transcript of the recording is horrifying. From the New York Times:
While Mr. Floyd was being restrained on the ground, on his stomach, with Mr. Chauvin’s knee pressed onto his neck, Mr. Lane asked whether Mr. Floyd should be turned onto his side.
Mr. Chauvin said, “No, he’s staying put where we got him.”
Mr. Lane then said he was worried Mr. Floyd might be having a medical emergency.
“Well that’s why we got the ambulance coming,” Mr. Chauvin responded, according to one of the transcripts.
“OK, I suppose,” Mr. Lane replied, adding soon after, “I think he’s passing out.”
At that moment, a bystander shouted: “He’s not even breathing right now, bro, you think that’s cool? You think that’s cool, right?” Other onlookers repeatedly asked if Mr. Floyd had a pulse.
“You got one?” Mr. Lane asked. “I can’t find one,” Mr. Kueng said. “Huh?” Mr. Chauvin replied. Mr. Kueng tried again, and again said he could not find a pulse.
More than two minutes then went by, according to timestamps on the transcript of Mr. Kueng’s body camera footage. Still, Mr. Chauvin kept his knee on Mr. Floyd’s neck, videos show.
This was not restraint. This was not an arrest. This was an execution.
A time to wake up
On March 3, 1991, four white Los Angeles police officers brutalized Rodney King while plumber George Holliday filmed it on his Sony Handycam. The beating was so savage that King was left with multiple broken bones, a skull fracture, and permanent brain damage. The officers involved in the savagery were acquitted by a jury and walked free. No one in America was surprised by this given the historic corruption and systemic racism present in police forces across the country.
30 years later, America finally appears to have woken up from its ongoing war on black people. The guilty verdict rendered by the jury in Derek Chauvin’s trial represents a sign that the nation is now willing to hold white police officers who kill black people accountable for their actions.
The signs of this awakening were apparent right after Floyd’s murder. The effect of having to watch footage of a black man being choked to death for over 9 minutes was extremely sobering for even the most stalwart defenders of the police. Each second of Floyd’s murder was a visceral reminder of what black Americans go through in this country — beaten, abused, knelt on, ignored, and murdered for the color of their skin.
Too much even for Republicans
George W. Bush released a touching statement in the wake of the George Floyd killing that may have marked a turning point in white America’s ability to reflect upon itself. He wrote:
Laura and I are anguished by the brutal suffocation of George Floyd and disturbed by the injustice and fear that suffocate our country. Yet we have resisted the urge to speak out, because this is not the time for us to lecture. It is time for us to listen. It is time for America to examine our tragic failures – and as we do, we will also see some of our redeeming strengths.
It remains a shocking failure that many African Americans, especially young African American men, are harassed and threatened in their own country. It is a strength when protesters, protected by responsible law enforcement, march for a better future. This tragedy — in a long series of similar tragedies — raises a long overdue question: How do we end systemic racism in our society? The only way to see ourselves in a true light is to listen to the voices of so many who are hurting and grieving. Those who set out to silence those voices do not understand the meaning of America — or how it becomes a better place.
The killing was so appalling that it appeared to penetrate even the highest echelons of the GOP power structure. Mitt Romney was seen marching with Black Lives Matter protestors. Mitch McConnell noted that the officers involved with Floyd’s death “look pretty darn guilty”. Even Donald Trump told Sean Hannity that “it doesn’t get any more obvious or it doesn’t get any worse than that.”
Now that white America finally appears to be able to comprehend that black people are, as they have been saying, being brutalized by the police, it is time for them to do something about it.
Reform, now
The only way to end police violence against black Americans is to implement widespread policing reforms. This must include radically reforming the way violent police incidents are tracked, dramatically changing the way police officers are trained to deal with the public, demilitarizing police forces around the country, reducing the role of policing in everyday life, and ensuring police departments and officers are held accountable for their actions.
The public cannot tolerate more of this. Black Americans are still being murdered by the police, and they must be punished for their actions. We need this to end now.
George Floyd’s killing need not be in vain. Black lives matter, and it is high time this country acknowledged this with more than just words.
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This should be the beginning of change, and not the end. If we truly want to honor the memory of George Floyd, we need reforms in our police departments and go after officers who feel that wearing a police uniform gives them carte blanche to ruin anyone's life just because they're different from them. Otherwise, we're just paying lip service to Floyd's memory!
Heart breaking to see this in our country, but not even remotely surprising. So many layers to unpack here, starting with outrageously poor screening in hiring practices. Followed by gnarly corruption and racism in police unions and finally terrible terrible false filing of reports by police involved in incidents like these and pathetic follow up by upper echelons in police departments- one look at Chauvin’s record would show any simple minded moron that he shouldn’t be allowed in a uniform, much less given a gun. Certainly there are many terrific, decent police. Unfortunately and perhaps unfairly they have to step up and go beyond their traditional roles in order not to be smeared with the same brush as Chauvin. They have to rein in thugs like Chauvin as opposed to his comrades standing by while he murdered George Floyd. Maybe, if and when his buddies get some jail time for their part in this terrible event, others similarly inclined will get the message that this crap will no longer be accepted as business as usual. Certainly this is one of many areas of systemic racism that our country has to address if it is to once again claim greatness. Right now it is anything but great. Thanks again republicans.