The tragic unnecessary death of George Floyd is the latest in a long line of police brutality injustices against African Americans.
Warning: The below video may contain footage inappropriate for younger viewers.
There is no justification for the police officer, who had three fellow law enforcement policemen beside him to back him up in case Mr. Floyd was violent (the video segments show he was not,) to press his knee on Mr. Floyd, suffocating him to death as the prisoner could be heard begging him to let go because he could not breathe.
Firing these four from the police force is not enough.
The officer who suffocated Mr. Floyd needs to be charged with either (depending on the local criminal code) manslaughter or murder. So do the other three policemen who stood by and did nothing.
The F.B.I. and the Justice Department should press federal civil rights violation charges and any other criminal citation this horrific event provides for.
The Mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey, has called for charges to be filed.
Democratic Presumptive Nominee Joe Biden, during a virtual meeting with Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf, condemned what the police officers did, saying:
“…it is a tragic reminder that this was not an isolated incident, but part of an ingrained systemic cycle of injustice that still exits in this country. It cuts at the very heart of our sacred belief that all Americans are equal in rights and dignity…”
Biden has also called for more action to be taken against these four men, including a federal Justice Department investigation:
“…to ensure that the Floyd Family receives the justice they’re entitled to and as a nation, you know as well as I-you know better than I-we have to work relentlessly to eradicate these systematic failures that inflict so much damage on not just one family, one community, but on the people of color all across this nation. And I don’t think we can move forward unless we take aggressive action to rip out the insidious race-based inequalities that corrupt every part of our society.”
Even Donald Trump (yeah, the 2016 KKK endorsed Presidential Candidate,) in a rare bout of Presidential sanity, tweeted a virtual echo of what Biden said hours earlier (perhaps because he was told what the former Vice President stated,) calling for a federal investigation and justice for the Floyd family.
….I have asked for this investigation to be expedited and greatly appreciate all of the work done by local law enforcement. My heart goes out to George’s family and friends. Justice will be served!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 27, 2020
This is 2020. This is not the deep South of the pre Civil Rights Era. These acts of racist violence should not still be happening and festering in our country.
The family of George Floyd deserves justice as do all the families across the nation who watched loved ones die just because of the color of their skin.
That justice can not be served by violent rioting and destruction of the property of innocent business owners who had nothing to do with Mr. Floyd’s death.
We, as a people that believe in equality and justice for all, should send a united message to the scum that commits these horrific acts that their days are numbered, their criminal acts will be punished, and they will spend the rest of their miserable lives rotting in prison.
We should also continually promote an inclusive, color blind, and equitable society where no one is afraid to walk along a street or cringe when a police car drives close to them or worry about whether or not they belong.
My thoughts—Mmmm-Where do I live? An image is forming in my head. I can’t draw, but here is the image. It is disturbing.
There is a large floor with the United States drawn upon it. I am looking from the East in the Atlantic, towards the west and see a black man on the ground with is neck around Georgia/Alabama and his feet stretching across the country toward California. He is not moving. A white man dressed in a confederate flag with a red cap on his head has his knee on the neck of the black man. The white man is facing north.
In a row lining up along the states to the North of the dead black man, is a row of football players facing south, facing the man—they are on their knees.
Behind the row of kneeling football players, to the north but facing southward behind the football players, are the beds of a couple pickup trucks. There are some large white men in the beds of the trucks aiming shotguns at the backs of the heads of the football players. The trucks have flags and bumper stickers and such. The shotguns have been fired—you can see the shot flying toward the backs of the heads of the football players.
Next to the men in pickups, toward the west but facing south, is a tall figure dressed up to appear as uncle sam. The hair is blond, the face is orangey with white around the eyes, but he is wearing a clown nose. The clown has his left hand on one of the men’s shoulders (in the pickup) and says in a bubble “you guys are good people” . In his right hand he has a flame thrower starting to go off—aimed under the asses of the football players kneeling and says in another bubble “you’re fired”.
I am not a person of color, I am just an American.
Is this a nightmare, or is this America? Really —is this what America stands for?.
I am heart broken by this! I am 15 years old and I don’t want to live in a world where I am not treated the same as someone who has a different skin colour. I grew up being taught that you should love everyone no matter what. And growing up I have realised that, that is not how the world works. When I was younger, I remember my parents were watching a documentary about white supremacy and at such a young age it was almost impossible to me that just because of their skin tone, people are treated with such disrespect! What this cop did was unforgivable and disgraceful and deserves a lot more punishment than being fired, all of them deserve to be behind bars. We shall tell George Floyd’s story and many others like him! WE WILL GET JUSTICE!! I am just a young white British girl, but I want my opinion to be shared…We only have one world and we should be united! It sickens me to think that there are young people my age who are reading articles like this and leaving their homes and being fearful for their life or their family’s life! GEORGE FLOYD may you rest in peace, my prayers are with your family and friends and we will do whatever it takes to bring down these cops and get the justice you deserve. BLACK LIVES MATTER
Nothing has changed since Oscar Grant was murdered by a BART cop on January 1, 2009, and the video of his murder went viral. It’s case after case, video after video. A lot of people are waiting for the tipping point, but it seems elusive. Why is that?
These were Oscar Grant’s last words spoken to his murderer, BART cop Johannes Mehserle, “I have a daughter…”.
Note that the cops were not only able to identify, arrest, and jail the person who is accused of murdering someone in the riot last night but the 4 persons who are well identified and who knowingly murdered a man on video have not been arrested nor put in jail.
Perhaps an even more disturbing component of this event is the fact that three police officers stood around and did nothing to save Floyd’s life. Imagine a scenario where three cops arrive at the scene of a fight just as one of the fighters manages to get the other on the ground and holds him there by pressing on the grounded fighter’s neck. Would they stand around for seven minutes? For a good discussion expand this scenario by assigning “white” or “black” to different participants.
BTW—Is there a difference between the three officers who stood around and watched and the Vice President of the U.S.? Of course the Veep can’t be fired by the Pres. and that makes it even worse!
What Bill Astle said times a billion.
Time and time again we see a cop shoot someone then let them die, no CPR, no calling for an ambulance.
Because they know it’s better for them if the victim dies.
This is how you know the cops are evil.
And as a matter of fact it is all cops, because the “good” cops know this goes on and say NOTHING.
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