Ellie SindelMinneapolis is on fire right now. People are angry. George Floyd was murdered by a white police officer in Minneapolis on Wednesday. The officer knelt on Floyd’s neck for nine minutes while Floyd begged for the officer to remove his knee from his neck.
“I can’t breathe”, he pleaded, over and over without respite. He even called out for his mother during the ordeal. Multiple people watched on, yelling at the officers and capturing the incident on camera. It was a horrific sight.
The FBI and authorities in Minnesota are currently investigating the situation, and many across the world are calling for the officers who were responsible to be arrested and sent to prison. Typically after a murder, an individual would be arrested, and then authorities would investigate.
However, that’s not the case here. Apparently police over in the US are above the law and can get away with shit like this without arrest.
George Floyd’s Crime Did Not Warrant His Death
George Floyd had been arrested supposedly because he used a forged cheque at a grocery store. The officers later said that Floyd was resisting arrest and was possibly under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
Was the level of force executed by the officers relative to the crime that was supposedly committed? I don’t think so.
In 2015, a white supremacist mass shooter was calmly arrested after he murdered nine people inside a church. Why was his arrest so calm, yet for a potential forgery, a black man was murdered?
Following the murder of George Floyd, a number of protests broke out in Minnesota and spread to Chicago, Illinois; Los Angeles, California; and Memphis, Tennessee. The protestors in Minnesota were met with tear gas by officers in who were suited up in riot gear.
Now, compare the pair. Protests over the murder of an unarmed man by unarmed civilians, versus the armed storming of the state capital by white men who were protesting coronavirus lockdown restrictions.
Police systems around the world are severely messed up if they believe that an unarmed protests warrants the response by riot squads, while the armed protests don’t. They’re supposed to be a justice system, but I wouldn’t call this justice. Not even close. This is systemic racism and white privilege.
Remember when White Suprematist stormed the Michigan capitol with guns, forced them to end their session early, and walked away without any repercussions?
This was Minnesota’s response to #BlackLivesMatter protests.
This is White Privilege in action … pic.twitter.com/Kt7dPZUBgq
— Tay Anderson (@TayAndersonCO) May 27, 2020
Dismantle Systems Of Oppression
Live from Minneapolis, Minnesota: mass protest after last night’s police murder of George Floydhttps://t.co/I41YBVNP9g
— Unicorn Riot (@UR_Ninja) May 27, 2020
The world needs to address issues of race and dismantle institutional systems of oppression. White people, please recognise your whiteness and your privilege, and do something to understand your place within society and what you can do for others going forward. I mean, just look at Joaquin Phoenix’s BAFTA acceptance speech as a great example of what people can do.
Find people on social media to follow and start educating yourself if you don’t know what to do. That’s what I’ve been doing too. We have to be aware. And we as people need to come together to address issues of systemic racism and help to change and shape the future.
Image Source: Twitter (Valeriot, @AnasShlby)
