What we're seeing right now across the country is rightful outrage after a Minneapolis police officer killed George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man on Monday.
Video footage of the scene taken by a bystander shows officer Derek Chauvin, who is white, with his knee on George’s neck, pinning him to the ground. George, handcuffed and subdued, can be heard pleading with Derek to remove his knee — repeatedly crying out “I can’t breathe,” until he becomes unresponsive.
George’s final words, “I can’t breathe,” were the same words we heard from Eric Garner, who died after police officers in New York City put him in a chokehold while arresting him in 2014. Eric was being arrested for allegedly selling untaxed cigarettes, which he denied doing. But he was never even given the chance to prove his innocence.
The accusation levelled against George wasn’t selling cigarettes, but purchasing them with an allegedly counterfeit $20 bill. And like Eric Garner, George was shown no empathy and no compassion. He was presumed guilty — not innocent as was his right — and he was killed for it.
This presumption of guilt is inextricable from the implicit and explicit racial biases of law enforcement. We’ve seen it over and over again. Just four years ago in the same state George was killed, Philando Castile was shot and killed by a police officer while his girlfriend and 4-year-old daughter were in the car.
Multiple studies have shown that predominantly Black and Latinx communities are policed more heavily than white communities, and that Black and brown people are more likely to be stopped, searched, and suspected of a crime. In Minnesota, a study showed that law enforcement stops drivers of color at significantly higher rates than white drivers.
When you combine that with the state’s long history of failing to hold police officers accountable and failing to adopt policies to de-escalate violence and regulate the use of force, it can be deadly.
According to Samuel Sinyangwe, a data analyst and co-founder of Mapping Police Violence, Minneapolis police officers have killed Black people at a rate 13 times higher than white people. That disparity is one of the largest in the country.
Officers Derek, who pinned George down, and Tou Thao — who stood by and did nothing — have both been the subjects of complaints of excessive use of force. Derek has had 18 previous complaints filed against him. Yet neither officer was fired until this week.
George, known by friends and family as “Big Floyd,” moved to Minneapolis from Texas for opportunity and a better life — and is remembered as a proponent of peace who advocated against gun violence.
His family is still hoping for justice for George, and for changes that will prevent such injustices from happening in the future.
George Floyd should be alive today. The Innocence Project mourns his death and stands with his family, the people of Minneapolis, and those speaking out in the name of justice.
Source: The Innocence Project, The Innocence Project Team, May 30, 2020
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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde
