How one incident of police brutality has triggered a long overdue civil rights movement in America.
The murder of George Floyd, an African American man, made headlines across the world as people watched in horror while he was essentially strangled. On May 25, Derek Chauvin, a white Minneapolis Police officer, kept his knee on Floyd’s throat for 9 minutes, 3 of which took place after Floyd became unresponsive, the entirety of which he was handcuffed and lying face down on the road. Officers Thomas K. Lane, Tou Thao, and J. Alexander Kueng participated in Floyd's arrest, with Kueng holding Floyd’s back, Lane holding his legs, and Thao looking on as he stood nearby.
The arrest was made after Floyd allegedly used a counterfeit 20$ bill, with the police officer claiming that Floyd resisted arrest, which was widely disputed by the contradictory video evidence, in which Floyd appeared passive and eventually begged for air.
The brutality and racist nature of his death sparked public outrage and incited protests on May 26th that were initially peaceful but turned violent the same day.
When Derek Chauvin was charged with third degree murder, which is defined as ‘killing someone unintentionally’- it angered people enough to set fire to the vacated police precinct where the four police officers in question worked. Officers fired tear gas in response, and 500 soldiers were deployed to the city, prompting cite wide looting and the burning of several stores. Donald Trump only made matters worse when he referred to the demonstrators as ‘thugs’ and threatened them saying ‘when the looting starts, the shooting starts.’, the final step in making it a countrywide issue.
In New York City, 40 people were arrested as protesters took to the streets near Union Square and in Lower Manhattan. In Louisville, Kentucky, where Breonna Taylor was killed by police during a raid at her home, officers with batons and riot gear patrolled as a crowd chanted in protests. One officer was seen firing what appeared to be a paintball gun, and people in the crowd behaved as though there was an irritant in the air, video showed. In Fontana, California, about 100 protesters blocked traffic as vandals broke the windows of City Hall, police said. 50 miles west, In Los Angeles, demonstrators gathered outside police headquarters downtown, and eventually spread to Rodeo Drive and vandalised several of the stores there.
All of the aftermath of the George Floyd murder show that the United States may have reached its tipping point when it comes to the mindless targeting and persecution of the African-American community. Character witnesses have only added salt to the wound, with his friends and family describing him as kind, hardworking and ‘a gentle giant.’, along with the knowledge that another innocent life has been added to the countless others that have died only because of the colour of their skin. The solidarity displayed by the country as they demand justice feels less like another example of racial violence that will be swept under the rug, and more like the start of a revolution demanding the dismantling of the social constructions that have firmly taken root in ‘the land of the free.’
Graffiti at the Alexander McQueen store reading ‘Make America pay for its crimes against black lives.’