Antiracism protests sweep the US
The shocking footage of George Floyd’s death has sparked an outpouring of rage across the US
BUILDINGS up in flames, cars burning, shop windows smashed, city streets engulfed in a haze of tear gas and smoke, stun grenades and rubber bullets flying – to the outside eye America looked like a warzone. And that’s exactly what it is.
But it’s not at war with another superpower – it’s at war with itself. From coast to coast, tens of thousands of Americans recently surged out onto the streets, taking their protest right up to the gates of the White House in Washington, DC.
And their message was clear: they’ve had enough.
Holed up in the mansion with an angry mob outside, President Donald Trump dismissed the protesters as “thugs”, “looters” and “anarchists”.
But the rest of the world wasn’t buying it. After seeing the shocking footage of George Floyd (46) pinned under a white police officer’s knee, begging in vain for his life, most people can completely understand the fury of the crowds.
In the viral video, Minneapolis cop
Derek Chauvin (44) can be seen jamming his knee into the side of George’s neck as the unarmed man lies face down on the ground with his hands cuffed behind his back.
Despite George’s repeated cries of “I can’t breathe”, the policeman refuses to budge while three of his colleagues look on, failing to lift a finger to stop what’s happening. For almost nine minutes Chauvin remains in this pose – and when he finally lifts his knee, George is no longer capable of saying anything because he’s dead.
It’s happened before and now it’s happened again.
Police violence against unarmed black men in America isn’t anything new – but this time the reaction it’s sparked is different to anything we’ve seen before. Whereas in the past protests against police brutality have largely been confined to one city, this time practically the entire nation has been engulfed in a furious outpouring of rage.
After almost a week, the protests were still raging in more than 48 US cities. In many cases it turned into full-blown riots, even jumping across the Atlantic with people in the UK and other countries in Europe taking to the streets in solidarity.
“I haven’t seen black people this upset in 20 years, maybe longer,” says CNN commentator Van Jones.
Now, many are wondering if at last a turning point has been reached. Surely after all that’s happened, things will never be the same again?
A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE Statistics show that despite only making up 13% of the US population, black Americans are two-and-a-half times more likely to be shot and killed by police. And there’s also a pattern of police walking away scot-free after injuring or even killing unarmed black men with little or no provocation.
The 1992 Los Angeles riots were set off by the acquittal of four white police officers who’d been filmed beating up Rodney King.
And even though the fatal 2014 shooting of Michael Brown (18) sparked 10 days of riots in Ferguson, Missouri, the policeman responsible, Darren Wilson, didn’t even stand trial. It was ruled that he’d been acting in “self-defence” when he fired 12 bullets at the unarmed teen.
That year, in a case eerily similar to Floyd’s, horticulturalist Eric Garner died after being put into a chokehold by a police officer in New York. Despite the unarmed man saying “I can’t breathe” 11 times, NYPD cop Daniel Pantaleo (35) refused to release him.
But the case never even went to trial because it was ruled that asthma and heart disease had been contributing factors in his death.
Now, many are wondering if the same
thing is going to happen in the Floyd case – especially as an autopsy report has claimed he didn’t die of strangulation or asphyxiation but rather as a result of “underlying health conditions”.
WHO WAS GEORGE FLOYD? Standing at an imposing two metres tall, he’d been a star basketball and football player in high school, earning himself the nickname “gentle giant”.
He moved to Minneapolis from his native Houston, Texas, several years ago and made a living working as a security guard at a nightclub where he was known as “Big Floyd”. But in the weeks leading up to his death he, like many Americans as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, found himself out of a job.
Police claim they had to use force to subdue him after he resisted their attempts to arrest him on suspicion of using a counterfeit $20 note to buy cigarettes.
But Roxie Washington, the mother of his six-year-old daughter, doesn’t believe this for a second. “People mistake him because he was so big that they thought he was always a fighting person,” she says. “But he was a loving person – and he loved his daughter.”
THE COP ACCUSED OF KILLING HIM In the aftermath of Floyd’s death, Chauvin was arrested and charged with thirddegree murder and manslaughter. But many people thought he deserved to face even more severe charges and are questioning why his colleagues weren’t also charged as accomplices for failing to step in and stop him.
This isn’t the first time Chauvin has faced censure for the way he does his job. During his 19 years in the Minneapolis police force he was involved in the fatal shooting of a suspect and was the subject of at least 17 complaints – two of which resulted in reprimands.
But now, as he faces the chance of spending 19 years behind bars if found guilty of third-degree murder, his wife hasn’t wasted any time distancing herself from him. In the wake of his arrest, Kellie Chauvin, a former Mrs Minnesota winner, announced she’s filing for divorce.
TRUMP COMES OUT FIRING There were no conciliatory speeches from Trump. Instead, in his trademark style, he proceeded to fan the flames of anger with the inflammatory tweet that included the words, “When the looting starts, the shooting starts.”
As protesters tried to storm the White House, his secret service agents were so nervous that they reportedly moved the president, along with his wife, Melania, and their son Barron (14), to a security bunker in the complex.
The next day, as riots continued to rage, Trump hinted that his supporters might come out to help the secret service stand up to protesters.
“I was just asking, but I have no idea if they’re going to be here,” he later added. “By the way, they love African American people, they love black people.”
Trump also revealed how he’d phoned George Floyd’s family to offer his heartfelt condolences.
“I just expressed my sorrow. That was a horrible thing to witness,” he said.
But according to George’s brother, Philonise, the conversation didn’t go well. He claims Trump gave him little chance to express his views and appeared to have no interest in what he was trying to say.
“He didn’t give me an opportunity to even speak,” he told news channel MSNBC. “It was hard. I was trying to talk to him, but he just kept, like, pushing me off like, ‘I don’t want to hear what you’re talking about’.”