Monday, June 01, 2020

George Floyd’s killing has opened the wounds of centuries of American racism

George Floyd’s killing and the ensuing protests, explained.
By Emily Stewart emily.stewart@vox.com  




Protesters rally on the west side of the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on May 30.
 Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call/Getty Images

The death of George Floyd, an unarmed 46-year-old black man killed by police during an arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, has sparked protests across the country. It has reignited a centuries-long conversation around racism in America and the horrendous ways black people are often treated by police. And it came amid a pandemic that is disproportionately impacting people of color.
On May 25, Floyd, who had recently lost his job as a restaurant bouncer due to coronavirus-related closures, died after being pinned down under a police officer’s knee for several minutes. That officer, Derek Chauvin, ignored Floyd’s pleas of distress as three other officers looked on and bystanders begged Chauvin to remove his knee from Floyd’s neck.
A video taken by a bystander and posted online spread quickly on social media. It shows that by the time Chauvin stopped holding Floyd down, he was silent and motionless. According to a criminal complaint filed against Chauvin, an officer on the scene checked for Floyd’s pulse before Chauvin removed his knee and could not find it. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a local hospital.
Chauvin and the three other officers involved in the incident were fired on Tuesday, and on Friday, Chauvin was arrested and charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter.







Protesters g
The incident has rightly prompted outrage across the country, and thousands of protesters have taken to the streets in Minneapolis — and in cities across America. While many of these protests have been peaceful, some have turned violent, with police clashes, burning buildings, and looting.
The protests have been focused on policing, but come during a 2020 that has been acutely painful for people of color. The coronavirus crisis has disproportionately affected black and Latino Americans, who have become sick and died of Covid-19 at higher rates than whites. The economic turmoil brought on by stay-at-home measures has also hit people of color especially hard — they’ve lost more jobs, and they were less likely to be financially stable in the first place.
Add to that a cascade of headlines of black Americans whose lives have been cut short by white violence and by police in recent weeks — Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and, most recently, Floyd. As Americans were grappling with these tragic headlines, a video of a white woman feigning an attack by a black man bird-watching in New York’s Central Park after he asked her to leash her dog went viral. It was a reminder that beyond concerns over state violence, systematic racism creates potentially dangerous situations for black Americans doing even the most mundane things.





The protests spawned by the deaths of Floyd and others are hardly a new development in the United States — the deaths of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Sandra Bland, and countless others have led to significant public outcry in recent years. Four years before Floyd’s fatal arrest in Minneapolis, Philando Castile was shot to death during a traffic stop in a nearby Minnesota suburb. Floyd told the officer who kept his knee on his neck, “I can’t breathe,” echoing the words of Eric Garner who died after being held in a chokehold in a police encounter in New York in 2014.
If it feels like we’ve seen this crisis before, it’s because we have. And still so many things haven’t changed.

Floyd died on Monday; Chauvin was charged on Friday

Floyd grew up in Houston and moved to Minneapolis in 2014 to look for work, according to CBS Minnesota. He got a position as a security guard at a Salvation Army store downtown, and then later began to work two jobs as a truck driver and a bouncer. He had a 6-year-old daughter who still lives in Houston with her mother. In the weeks before his death, he’d been laid off due to Minnesota’s stay-at-home order.
Vox’s Catherine Kim explained the circumstances of his May 25 encounter with police following a purchase at a convenience store and, ultimately, his death, as shown by video footage captured of the incident:
Although the video doesn’t capture the moments leading to the arrest, the Minneapolis Police Department said they were responding to a call that a man was trying to use a $20 counterfeit bill, according to the Star Tribune. In a statement, the police department said officers arrived at the scene to find Floyd — who matched the description of the suspect — sitting on a car and appearing to be intoxicated. They added that Floyd physically resisted the police and seemed to be “suffering medical distress,” which is why they had called for an ambulance.
The police’s excessive use of force seemingly has no excuse: The department does not permit the technique that was used to pin Floyd’s head to the ground, according to Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.
The four officers involved were fired on Tuesday, May 26, and the next day, Mayor Frey called for Chauvin to face criminal charges. Local officials on Thursday said they were investigating Floyd’s death “as expeditiously, as thoroughly, and as completely as justice demands” and asked for patience from the public. On Friday, Chauvin was arrested and charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter, and the Justice Department said it would investigate Floyd’s death as well. Chauvin’s wife has filed for divorce, and his bail has been set at $500,000.
The day the officers involved were fired, the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis said in a statement that all video of the incident should be reviewed, and called for waiting on the medical examiner’s report. “Officers’ actions and training protocol will be carefully examined after the officers have provided their statements,” the federation said.
According to the criminal complaint against Chauvin released on Friday, Chauvin had his knee on Floyd’s neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds, including two minutes and 53 seconds during which Floyd was “non-responsive.” Officer J.A. Keung — another of the four officers fired — tried to find Floyd’s pulse shortly after he became unresponsive, and could not.
The county medical examiner’s preliminary autopsy findings say there were “no physical findings that support a diagnosis of traumatic asphyxia or strangulation” and said that the “combined effects of Mr. Floyd being restrained by the police, his underlying health conditions, and any potential intoxicants in his system likely contributed to his death.” Floyd’s family is seeking an independent autopsy.

The reaction to Floyd’s death has been massive

The public reaction to Floyd’s death has been swift and enormous.
Politicians, celebrities, athletes, and multiple other public figures have spoken out. Former President Barack Obama released a lengthy statement calling for the country to work for a “new normal” for black Americans. “This shouldn’t be normal in 2020 America,” he wrote.
Former Vice President Joe Biden called the moment a “national crisis” and one that necessitates “leadership that will bring everyone to the table so we can take measures to root out systemic racism.” President Donald Trump expressed his condolences to Floyd’s family and said he spoke with them.
Even members of law enforcement spoke out condemning the circumstances in which Floyd was killed. “To be honest with you, it was very difficult to watch,” Birmingham Police Chief Patrick Smith told local news outlet WBRC. He continued, “It degrades the trust in all law enforcement, not just one area. When things like this happen, it spreads throughout the country. It makes all of us go back and check our relationships and make sure we are doing things the right way.”
Protests have been ignited in Minneapolis — and across the country — as people express their outrage not only about Floyd’s death, but about the underlying racism and inequality that renders being black in America dangerous, particularly at the hands of police.
Minneapolis has seen days of unrest. There have been a number of peaceful protests, but some businesses there have also been looted, including Target and TJ Maxx; other businesses have been vandalized, and police stations and other buildings burned down. Demonstrations have become increasingly volatile as local officials have asked the public for peace. The governor has called for the full mobilization of the Minnesota National Guard.





Police in riot gear met protes
Uprisings have also spread across the country. On Friday, protests in Atlanta grew tense and violent — cars were set ablaze, and windows at the CNN building were smashed in. Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms pleaded with protesters for calm: “If you care about this city, then go home,” she said at a press conference.
Rapper Killer Mike, in a speech at the same press conference, struck a similar tone. “I am duty-bound to be here to simply say that it is your duty not to burn down your own house for anger with an enemy,” he said.
Protesters and police also clashed in Brooklyn on Friday evening. Cars were set on fire and windshields were smashed, and both protesters and police were harmed. According to ABC 7, there were more than 200 arrests reported. Some disturbing videos emerged online of the evening, including one of an officer pushing a woman to the ground and another of a police car door hitting a protester.
In San Jose, California, Miami, Chicago, Dallas, and dozens of cities across the country, protests and arrests are taking place. Crowds of protesters have gathered outside of the White House as well. In Louisville, police officers shot pepper balls at a reporter.
Some of the details of the protests have been a little bit murky. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Saturday said that about 80 percent of people arrested were from outside the region, and Mayor Frey said many people protesting are not from the city as well. But media reports cast doubt on claims that most of those arrested were from out of state. There has been some suggestion that white supremacists or cartels may be involved, but that hasn’t been confirmed.
“Let’s be very clear, the situation in Minneapolis is no longer in any way about the murder of George Floyd,” Walz said on Saturday.




People begin cleaning up the sidewalks outside a burned Walgreens store in Minneapolis on May 30.
 Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

New York Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, who took part in the Brooklyn, New York, protests on Friday, noted he saw “non-black allies in particular” escalating the situation. “That decision should not be yours to make,” he warned. He also spoke out about the “heavy police presence” at the outset of the protests on Friday, before anyone was outside. “We are dealing with people who are grieving and who are angry. The response to that cannot be a show of force,” he said.
Some states have mobilized the National Guard to respond, and mayors have enacted curfews to try to tamp down demonstrations. It is not clear how effective these will be at stemming the protests — a Friday night curfew in Minneapolis was ignored by many, for example.
President Trump isn’t exactly helping the situation. Overnight on Thursday, Trump tweeted out an apparent threat to protesters declaring, “When the looting starts, the shooting starts,” mirroring language used by segregationist law enforcement officials during the civil rights era. In the same tweet, the president called demonstrators “THUGS.” Twitter put a warning on the tweet saying it glorifies violence, fueling the fire of the president’s battle with the social media platform.
Trump later walked back the tweet, saying he was trying to warn that looting could lead to shootings because it intensifies the situation.
Into the weekend, the president weighed in online on the protests, suggesting they’re driven by antifascists and the “Radical Left,” and lashing out at CNN for its coverage of the demonstrations. He also commended the Secret Service for protecting him from White House protests — and suggested Saturday night should be “MAGA NIGHT AT THE WHITE HOUSE.”

This isn’t about the protests, it’s about what the protests are about

Beyond the debates about the tactics demonstrators are using and who is and isn’t involved, there is a much deeper issue here that must remain in focus: the way black people are treated in the United States.
Of course the protests are about George Floyd’s death. Political leaders fear violence at the protests — and any destruction of property or bodily harm is, of course, worrisome — but their concerns actually demonstrate the fundamental asymmetry that the protesters are pushing back against. The state has a monopoly on legitimate violence, and it is often directed at young black people like George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice — the list goes on. When they die, the police officers responsible too frequently face no repercussions because they are protected by the law. If the men who killed George Floyd go to prison for their actions, they will be exceptions that prove that longstanding rule.
As Scott lays out, there are countless data points on how black Americans are targeted and mistreated by law enforcement. Black men have 1 in 1,000 odds of being killed by the police. Black people are twice as likely as whites to be pulled over by police, and they’re likelier to be searched. When they’re murdered, their murders are less likely to be solved. They’re sent to prison more often, and they are given longer prison sentences.
And for black Americans, these aren’t data points — they are real and lived situations each and every day.
And racial disparities are not just limited to criminal justice. Inequities are present in so many aspects of American life. Just look at the coronavirus crisis: The disease is disproportionately sickening and killing people of color, and it’s hitting in areas where minorities live harder. That’s true in Minnesota, where Floyd lived. Women of color are disproportionately essential workers who are putting themselves at risk, often for low-paid jobs with no health insurance. Black and Hispanic people are likelier to be laid off or furloughed during the pandemic. That’s what happened to Floyd.
In the flurry of news around the protests of Floyd’s death, on top of everything else, it can be easy to lose sight of the real problem: The centuries of racism in the bedrock of American society continue to do enormous damage. And that damage is borne in large part by black Americans.

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Images of police using violence against peaceful protesters are going viral

Police responded to protests across the nation with excessive force.
By Catherine Kimcatkim0525@gmail.com  
officers tackle a protester on May 30. Many officers were filmed using excessive force toward demonstrators.
 Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images
Video footage is going viral of police officers responding to protests Saturday night with excessive force, including battering and pepper-spraying peaceful demonstrators.
Most of the nationwide anti-police brutality protests started peacefully Saturday afternoon, but many took a more volatile turn on Saturday night. Some images show protesters vandalizing property, including setting fire to police cars and businesses.
But other videos show officers aggravating lawful participants with batons and, in one case, driving a police SUV into a crowd.
The protests began in Minnesota last week in response to a video showing a white Minneapolis police officer killing an unarmed black man, George Floyd. The protests have spread globally and taken on a broader call for an end to police brutality.
Some images in this article may be graphic.

Police pepper-sprayed protesters

In New York, a police officer pulled down the mask of a peaceful protester, who had his hands up, and pepper-sprayed him in the face. The police in the video had intentionally covered their badge numbers.
And in Seattle, a child was hit with pepper spray, too. In the video, she is screaming as other protesters pour milk on her face.
In Columbus, Ohio, Rep. Joyce Beatty, Columbus City Council President Shannon Hardin, and Franklin County Commissioner Kevin Boyce were also pepper-sprayed by the police while trying to ease a conflict between protesters and the police.

A police SUV rammed into a crowd

In Brooklyn, a New York Police Department SUV rammed into a crowd of protesters, knocking them to the ground. It’s unclear whether anyone was seriously injured. In a press conference later in the day, Mayor Bill de Blasio blamed protesters for not getting out of the way and putting the police in an “impossible” situation.

Rubber bullets hit a bystander

In Dallas, a woman’s face was covered in blood after she was hit with a rubber bullet while walking home with groceries.

Officers appear to assault peaceful participants

In Salt Lake City, an older man walking with a cane was pushed to the ground by an officer.
In Brooklyn, a video captured multiple officers converging on a protester and hitting the individual with a baton.
In Atlanta, the police dragged a young couple out of a car while using a Taser. Officers also flattened the tires and broke the windows of their vehicle. Multiple officers were involved in the incident.

Police open-fired paint canisters at people on their own property

In Minneapolis, the Minneapolis Police Department and National Guard marched down the residential streets of Whittier neighborhood. Tanya Kerssen, who lives in the neighborhood, tweeted that the officers shot paint canisters at the residents while shouting “light ’em up.”

Excessively used tear gas

In Dallas, the police tear-gassed City Hall, where peaceful protests were being held.
In Denver, the police fired multiple tear gas canisters just minutes after the city’s 8 pm curfew passed.
Washington, DC’s Lafayette Square, just across from the White House, was also flooded with tear gas.

NYPD Cops Tackle, Beat Demonstrator with Batons during Protests (+Video)

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A protester was filmed in New York City being pinned to the ground by a swarm of police officers and violently being bitten by scores of them, during protest for death of George Floyd.

  • May, 31, 2020 - 
NYPD Cops Tackle, Beat Demonstrator with Batons during Protests (+Video)
A video circulating on social media shows a man standing on a NYPD cruiser waving his arms. Seconds later, a police officer sprints from the driver’s side of the vehicle and tackles him, throwing the protester to the ground. Within seconds, around half a dozen cops surround the man and start beating him with batons. The protester tries to escape but is quickly contained, with officers forming a perimeter around him as he gets cuffed.
Conservative pundit Mark Dice described the case as a “touchdown” for the NYPD, while others claimed that the police reaction was needlessly harsh.
Protests have sprung up from coast to coast following the killing of Minnesotan George Floyd, who died while in police custody.
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US Govt. Complicit in Police Killings of African-Americans: Anti-Racist Activist

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – An American anti-racist strategist and activist said the US government is complicit in police-involved shootings and killings of unarmed black men across the country.

  • May, 31, 2020 - 
US Govt. Complicit in Police Killings of African-Americans: Anti-Racist Activist
“The United States government has been not only complicit in Black death but an active participant and agitator in our deaths. Right now protestors are fighting back against heavily armed cops in riot gear. These cops are shooting tear gas and other projectiles as peaceful protestors. Imagine the level of cruelty it takes to shoot tear gas in a crowd of peaceful people,” Desmond Abrams told Tasnim.
Abrams is a Black American community organizer and anti-racist strategist. He is the founder and executive director of Brothers Doing Better, a US-based racial and social justice organization.
Following is the full text of the interview:
Tasnim: Protests over police brutality and the death of George Floyd continue to rage across the US. What do you think about the protests and the role of the US government in them?
Abrams: The United States government has been not only complicit in Black death but an active participant and agitator in our deaths. Right now protestors are fighting back against heavily armed cops in riot gear. These cops are shooting tear gas and other projectiles as peaceful protestors. Imagine the level of cruelty it takes to shoot tear gas in a crowd of peaceful people. Then imagine how cruel you would have to be to do this during a pandemic that attacks your breathing.
Tasnim: US President Donald Trump, in a tweet after midnight on Friday, called the protesters in Minneapolis “thugs” and said, “When the looting starts, the shooting starts.” His tweet was widely criticized for inciting violence. What is your take on his tweet?
Abrams: Trump’s tweets about "Thugs" doesn't shock anyone I know. And in all honesty, his tweets really are just a continuation of the race/class war that American presidents always wage against their citizens, in particular their Black and darker skin population. He mentioned there will be shooting, and my reply is "so what". You (and the presidents before him) have already enabled the police to kill Black people at a whim. So the thought that people who are already pushed to the brink by way of American anti-Black hatred and dominance are just gonna pack up and go home because Trump called the Black community a racial slur and made more threats is inaccurate. The protest, the uprisings, they are still happening and they are expanding day by day.
Tasnim: The United States is a contradiction. Its founding principles embrace the ideals of freedom and equality, but it is a nation built on the systematic exclusion and suppression of communities of color. From the start, so many of this country’s laws and public policies, which should serve as the scaffolding that guides progress, were instead designed explicitly to prevent people of color from fully participating. What are the reasons behind this?
Abrams: That's a great question. And there are a lot of reasons for this contradiction. First and foremost is the practice of slavery in America; this country would not be a superpower if it were not for our ancestors forced free labor. The wealthy in this country have coasted off the wealth that that period created and they are hoarding those ill-gotten gains still.
Also the system of exploitation known as capitalism cannot thrive without an outgroup or bottom caste group to hold up the entire system. That is what Black people are in this country, we hold up this country and institutions through our labor and our suffering. When California wants to put out wildfires they pay Black imprisoned people less than a dollar a day to risk their lives. That's just one example. But there are plenty.
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Trump Fueling Racial Animosity to Stay Another 4 Years in Office: US Analyst

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – An American political analyst based in Detroit said US President Donald Trump is seeking to divide the country through fueling racial animosity between African Americans and whites in an effort to convince right-wing elements that he should be given another four years in office.

Trump Fueling Racial Animosity to Stay Another 4 Years in Office: US Analyst
“Trump has built his political career upon racism, sexism, and anti-immigrant bigotry. He is attempting to inflame tensions between people in the United States against Caracas and Beijing along with Tehran. On a domestic level, he has fueled racial animosity between African Americans and whites in an effort to divide the country further in order to convince right-wing elements that he should be given another four years in office,” Abayomi Azikiwe said in an interview with Tasnim.
Abayomi Azikiwe is the editor of the Pan-African News Wire and a co-founder of the Michigan Emergency Committee Against War & Injustice (MECAWI) and the Moratorium NOW! Coalition, both based in Detroit. Azikiwe has published numerous articles, pamphlets, and books on African affairs along with working as a consultant for various satellite television news networks throughout the world. He has traveled extensively in Africa conducting field research on political economy and history.
Following is the full text of the interview:
Tasnim: Protests over police brutality and the death of George Floyd continue to rage across the US. What do you think about the protests?
Azikiwe: These demonstrations and rebellions are a direct response to not only the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The unrest reflects the overall atmosphere of anger and despair within a racist and capitalist society. The mass frustration has been building for years in regard to the attacks upon African Americans by law-enforcement agents and white vigilantes. The outrage comes amid the COVID-19 pandemic which has eliminated more than 100,000 people in the United States and sickened some 1.6 million. This is by far the worst humanitarian and healthcare crisis in the US for more than a century. African Americans are disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. In states such as Michigan and Illinois, African Americans are being hospitalized and are dying in numbers far greater than their percentages in the general population. 41 million people have been thrown out of work. There are many who do not have money and food as a direct result of the economic collapse. Consequently, the horrendous execution of Mr. Floyd was not only illegal it was a provocation of the highest order. Therefore, no one should be surprised at the level of disorder taking place in cities across the country for the last several days.
Tasnim: US President Donald Trump, in a tweet after midnight on Friday, called the protesters in Minneapolis “thugs” and said, “When the looting starts, the shooting starts.” His tweet was widely criticized for inciting violence. What is your take on his tweets?
Azikiwe: Trump has built his political career upon racism, sexism, and anti-immigrant bigotry. He is attempting to inflame tensions between people in the United States against Caracas and Beijing along with Tehran. On a domestic level, he has fueled racial animosity between African Americans and whites in an effort to divide the country further in order to convince right-wing elements that he should be given another four years in office. If the local municipalities and states where the demonstrations are occurring engage in even more repressive tactics, it will only make matters worse. Rather than the Trump administration directing its attention towards containing the COVID-19 pandemic and lessening tensions in the country, it is creating even more hostility sparking violent responses in the streets of Washington, Atlanta, Detroit, Chicago, Los Angeles, Oakland, Memphis, New York City, among other metropolitan areas. At present National Guardsmen are being deployed in Minneapolis and St. Paul, while other local police agencies are facing the wrath of the African American people and their allies who are making their voices heard through mass demonstrations and other forms of resistance.
Tasnim: The United States is a contradiction. Its founding principles embrace the ideals of freedom and equality, but it is a nation built on the systematic exclusion and suppression of communities of color. From the start, so many of this country’s laws and public policies, which should serve as the scaffolding that guides progress, were instead designed explicitly to prevent people of color from fully participating. What are the reasons behind this?
Azikiwe: The Declaration of Independence of 1776 did not call for the liberation of enslaved Africans. During the early phase of the United States as a nation, only white male property owners could vote and have representation within the government. Africans and other nationally oppressed groups, women and the working class were forced to wage a protracted struggle to gain fundamental political and democratic rights. Despite the Civil War which legally ended involuntary servitude after 1865, African Americans have been forced to continue their struggle for self-determination, equality, and economic justice. Whenever gains have been made historically, right-wing elements backed by the capitalist ruling class initiates measures to reverse the reforms which are enacted as a result of mass organization and agitation. What is needed is a total break with the racist and capitalist regime. Only the creation of a genuinely democratic and non-racial society can bring about harmony and peace. Unfortunately, there is a need for more confrontation. The outcome of these struggles will determine the future of the US and consequently the world.

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Iran Urges US to Stop Intimidating Protesters, Change Its ‘Bankrupt’ Policies

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran’s Foreign Ministry called on the US government to stop intimidating anti-brutality protesters in the country and instead listen to its people and change its “bankrupt” policies.

  • May, 31, 2020 - 16:00
Iran Urges US to Stop Intimidating Protesters, Change Its ‘Bankrupt’ Policies
“Failed to keep its promise of stopping wasting money on foreign adventurism & embattled in a COVID19 crisis of its own making, US regime now employs army, 'vicious dogs & ominous weapons' to intimidate protesters. Instead, US should listen to its people & change its bankrupt policies,” the ministry said in a tweet on Sunday.
It came three days after disturbing footage surfaced online showing a police officer, Derek Chauvin, choking unarmed black man George Floyd to death in Minneapolis, Minnesota, after forcing him to the ground and pinning him down with his knee.
The officer refused to relieve the pressure, although Floyd was being heard repeatedly pleading for his life and saying, “I can’t breathe.”
Floyd’s death, a poignant reminder of repeated unjustifiable killings of members of the African-American community by the US police, has been followed by protests across the country.
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