Not One More
By: Conor Kelly
Tags: Civil Rights, Police, George Floyd, Murder, Police Brutality

Not One More

As another Black man is killed by the police, calls for change grow ever-louder

George Floyd Memorial by Lorie Shaull

I am not one to let anger guide me. It has never been my forte, nor has it been one of my virtues. But after watching the video of George Floyd’s death, I can’t help but feel anything but anger. I could try to provide some broader context to try and explain away the dead man who was begging for his life. I could tell the protesters not to loot or burn property, but such a warning is already too late; something needs to change.

When Floyd was confronted by police, it was because of an alleged forgery charge against Floyd. Video evidence gathered by CBS shows Floyd walking with the police as they take him to the car, indicating that he did not resist and was complying. By the end of it, however, Floyd was unconscious on the pavement with then Officer Derek Chauvin putting his knee into the unconscious man’s neck. His cries for help could be heard before his inevitable death. Officer Tou Thao could be seen arguing with witnesses as Floyd continues to beg for air, promising to get into the car and crying for his mother. Two other officers were restraining Floyd, but none has taken on more significance than Derek Chauvin, who held his knee on Floyd’s neck and refused to remove until he pulled Floyd’s limp body onto a stretcher.

By then, it was too late. Floyd was dead, and there was no amount of police training to bring him back. The officer’s initial statement stated that he had resisted and endured a moment of “medical distress.” Medical distress or not, the videos show him not only complying with officers’ instructions but also letting them guide him along before collapsing.

The statements given by the police failed to mention how they held a knee in Floyd’s neck or the fact that the officers’ restraining methods were banned by Mayor Jacob Frey last year. Such critical information must’ve slipped their minds. Of course, that isn’t surprising because the Police Union refused to comply with the ban when it was ordered. In fact, Police Union President, Lt. Bob Kroll referred to such measures by Mayor Frey as “handcuffing and oppressing the police.” Excellent choice of words, Bob.

This unwillingness to see reform enacted is precisely why police trust is so low among Black communities and why there is such a disconnect in public opinion. In 2019, 70 percent of White Americans said that the police treated people from different racial groups equally, compared to half of the Latino respondents and a third of Black participants. The distrust is, of course, racially-connected. It speaks to the fear of losing one’s life at the hands of men and women who swore to protect and serve that life. An institution only can maintain itself on the consent and trust of the people it seeks to govern. If things don’t change soon, the police won’t be able to justify their position for many Americans who are too afraid to roll down their window when a blue man pulls them over. Is that the world Black Americans deserve? I think not.

George Floyd Graffiti along 38th St, Minneapolis.

There will be attempts to deflect, of course. As I type this, many are raising their fists in faux outrage at the rioting that accompanied this blatant abuse of power, but such selective outrage is telling. If a riot is such a despicable thing, shouldn’t the murder that precipitates it be even more outrageous? After all, the people rioting didn’t take any oaths, they made no promises to anyone. The police, on the other hand, is undeniably bound by such oaths. They exist as officers because of the public they serve, and if the public’s trust is betrayed by said officers in such a brutal fashion, something should be done about it. This is not to say that the riots are a good thing; they aren’t. What I am saying, however, is that there is already a selective outrage at play when dealing with a severe abuse of power. And it’s because the victim was Black.

Such deflection can’t be permitted. Floyd’s name can’t escape the public’s memory like so many before him. There needs to be an unrelenting campaign of outrage, a wave of anger that can’t be denied. If Floyd is to see justice, his name must be known to all and must be spoken in remembrance and defiance. Media outlets will show you wall to wall coverage of the riots, they will try to scare you with pictures of flaming buildings, trying to hide the man the police killed. If this is to be countered, Americans with media platforms must do the opposite. What happened to Floyd has to be at the center of it all, it can’t be some side issue. If change and justice are to come, it is going to come because the reality of Floyd’s murder couldn’t be ignored any longer by those in power.