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African-American George Floyd's death has led to marches, demonstrations, acts of violence, and looting across the USA and in other parts of the world. Emotions are running high. We will not attempt to accuse or defend anyone here. Just attempt to lay out the information we have and offer it up for the community to discuss. Many comments about this incident have been posted to unrelated stories on this site. This is, therefore, an attempt to provide one place on SoylentNews where people are encouraged to discuss it. So as to not derail other stories on the site, I kindly ask you focus those comments here.
Wikipedia has a page about this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_George_Floyd (permanent link to the page as it appeared at the time of writing):
On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, an African-American man, was killed in the Powderhorn community of Minneapolis, Minnesota. While Floyd was handcuffed and lying face down on a city street during an arrest, Derek Chauvin, a white American Minneapolis police officer, kept his knee on the right side of Floyd's neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds; according to the criminal complaint against Chauvin, 2 minutes and 53 seconds of that time occurred after Floyd became unresponsive.[3][4][5][6][7] Officers Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng, and Thomas K. Lane participated in Floyd's arrest, with Kueng holding Floyd's back, Lane holding his legs, and Thao looking on and preventing intervention by an onlooker as he stood nearby.[8]:6:24[9][10]
The arrest was made after Floyd was accused of using a counterfeit $20 bill at a market.[11] Police said Floyd physically resisted arrest.[12][13] Some media organizations commented that a security camera from a nearby business did not show Floyd resisting.[14][15] The criminal complaint filed later said that based on body camera footage, Floyd repeatedly said he couldn't breathe while standing outside the police car, resisted getting in the car and intentionally fell down.[16][17][18][19] Several bystanders recorded the event on their smartphones, with one video showing Floyd repeating "Please", "I can't breathe", "Mama", and "Don't kill me" being widely circulated on social media platforms and broadcast by the media.[20] While knee-to-neck restraints are allowed in Minnesota under certain circumstances, Chauvin's usage of the technique has been widely criticized by law enforcement experts as excessive.[21][22][23] All four officers were fired the day after the incident.[24]
[...] Charges: Third-degree murder (Chauvin) Second-degree manslaughter (Chauvin)
This has been extensively covered by the media. Some outlets attempt to put their own interpretations on their coverage with their selection of video footage and with their commentary. It is difficult to find a simple video of the incident. Here is one that has coverage from the time of initial encounter of the police the officers with George Floyd up through his being taken away by ambulance. The video is a composite of shots from a restaurant's surveillance camera (Dragon Wok), Officer body cam, and bystander cell phones. YouTube footage: Full George Floyd Available Footage (21:12). If anyone has more complete footage of the arrest, please mention it clearly (with a link) in the comments.
Lastly, this is a hard time for everybody. Pandemic. Lock-down. Unemployment. Fears. Please be mindful of others' circumstances when commenting. We are a community sprung from a time of challenge. Let us continue to be here for one-another during this difficult time. SoylentNews is People.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by hemocyanin on Tuesday June 02 2020, @10:05PM (18 children)
There's something like 96-98% agreement that the officers' acts where horrific and that policing needs to change.
I doubt there's as much support for destroying the neighborhoods and livelihoods of people who agree with the protestors and who also had nothing at all to do with what happened to Floyd.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 02 2020, @10:34PM (17 children)
I agree. In fact, looting/rioting has been roundly criticized by pretty much everyone. Including the protestors. In fact, there have repeated instances of legitimate protestors *stopping* the criminals who are trying to take advantage of the cover of night, the protests and the fact that most folks are staying at home trying to limit the spread of Coronavirus.
What's more, video and other independent reporting makes it clear that those engaged in violence/looting are *not* the same folks who are protesting peacefully. Those who do engage in violence and looting need to be prosecuted for their crimes.
However, that does *not* mean that those peacefully exercising their First Amendment rights should be stopped from doing so.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 02 2020, @11:48PM (16 children)
Yeah, the cops are using the rioters as an excuse to brutalize countless innocent people. In some cases, cops are marching down the street and demanding people who are standing on their own property to get in their houses and shooting projectiles at them if they don't. Anyone remotely libertarian should be screaming about this rampant authoritarianism, as it's yet more evidence that the entire system needs to be reformed from the ground-up.
(Score: 5, Informative) by hemocyanin on Wednesday June 03 2020, @01:03AM (9 children)
For reference, the videos mentioned above can be seen here:
Protestors, some antifa moron, "Take His Ass": https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1267335981092478981 [twitter.com]
People standing on their porch being subjected to police state: https://streamable.com/u2jzoo [streamable.com]
(Score: 4, Interesting) by captain normal on Wednesday June 03 2020, @01:50AM (7 children)
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/31/us/george-floyd-protests-white-supremacists-antifa.html [nytimes.com]
When life isn't going right, go left.
(Score: 1) by hemocyanin on Wednesday June 03 2020, @07:33AM (6 children)
NYT? *eyeroll*
The Pacific NW has seen what antifa and antifa-adjacent can do very clearly between Portland where they are a constant darling of the press and local government despite causing seven figures in damage during the tantrum of the 2016 election. https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2016/11/pearl_district_ne_portland_wak.html [oregonlive.com] There's also the whole Evergreen College Brett Weinstein debacle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5Wny9TstEM&list=PLRdayXEOwuMG9DG66Bvx6YbUnhw-buS5K [youtube.com]
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Wednesday June 03 2020, @07:04PM (5 children)
Oregon Live ? You Tube? *eyeroll*
Where is there evidence that the damage in the Portland rioting was caused by Antifa and not by far right militants? Certainly not in either of your links.
https://www.citylab.com/equity/2020/06/george-floyd-protests-vehicle-attacks-police-trucks-cars/612487/?srnd=premium [citylab.com]
When life isn't going right, go left.
(Score: 0, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 04 2020, @12:18AM (3 children)
Antifa are far right militants.
(Score: 1) by hemocyanin on Thursday June 04 2020, @02:08AM (2 children)
They just won't admit it.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 04 2020, @04:08AM (1 child)
You are so far off base. Antifa has no organization, but fighting fascist violence with violence is not hypocritical in the slightest. Anyone who is engaging in fascist activities is not Antifa.
The absolute worst condemnation of Antifa so far is throwing milkshakes with concrete in them, but given the evidence that is either complete bullshit or the concrete was the least concrete substance ever.
So, worst offense by "antifa" is an attack that gave someone a mark under their eye. Compared to police attacks on peaceful protesters resulting in multiple 4+ inch bruises on people that is child's play. Compared to actual far right terrorists bombing clinics and murdering people I think your priorities are fucked.
Hemocyanin, you need to reevaluate your life choices.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 04 2020, @04:36AM
That's what they'd like you to believe. In reality, it has central figures, much like the Anonymous hacktivists did. The government is monitoring their communications and looking for an excuse to round them all up.
(Score: 1) by hemocyanin on Thursday June 04 2020, @02:11AM
When a local newspaper gets us into a war in the Middle East, I'll roll my eyes at them too.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 03 2020, @06:26AM
"Light 'em up!" == a totally normal response for someone who is legally complying with your curfew order.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday June 03 2020, @01:13PM (3 children)
Let's consider that on the street, masses of people are not wearing different color t-shirts to signal that they're there for peaceful protest or looting or violence. You look at a crowd of people holding signs, and then somewhere, just past the front ranks, somebody starts throwing molotov cocktails. Others jump out and beat an old couple to death and then melt back into the crowd.
As the police, what do you do then, just let it continue that way?
Of course not. You clear the street.
Peaceful protest is absolutely protected under law. Violence and looting are not. It sucks that criminals (practiced, or imminent) use the cover of lawful activity to commit crimes, but when they do the police must clear the street. The burden of suppressing the lawful exercise of free speech is then on the criminals, not on the police.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 03 2020, @06:12PM
So making it easy for cops to assault and arrest innocent people is preferred?
Hopefully one day you'll realize that such attitudes are why protests and riots keep happening. People don't like injustice, cops should have body cam footage that someone is actually breaking the law in order to arrest them.
"But that's haaaard" whines the old white boomer :|
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 04 2020, @03:53AM (1 child)
You need to read the history of unions. You're absolutely incorrect, and everyone stating that protesting is protected, is a little full of shit.
It's been forgotten through time, but there were peaceful protests for the 10-hour day (predated the 8-hour day movement). "Police", or law enforcement that also moonlighted for rich interests (Railroad Robbin' Barons), murdered women and children in the street to send a message. This is a fact in our history.
The "Coal Police" were very much a real thing, and union members back then risked being "disappeared" by them if they became too effective.
A large number of protests in this country have been about working conditions and the middle class being treated like "human capital stock". Chicago police in particular are known for brutal moonlighting. Read up on this history, because in many cases it was paid agitators or police in disguise that started the violence in the first place. Either that, or it was the police that started shooting.
The NLRB itself was created to take the teeth out of protesting, legally. In exchange for mandatory participation by the owners/managers, many forms of protest were made illegal. Talk to the unions in San Fransisco about the police getting into it with dock workers protesting.
In the last week, there has been evidence of police starting the violence. So the real truth of is that not all riots were purely caused by the rioters, especially when it's a "riot" that developed from a protest situation and not the wrong sports team winning with football hooligans tearing up the place.
Peaceful protestors, and the press covering them, are routinely abused by law enforcement. Put on buses without bathrooms, locked in handcuffs for 18 hours, not fed. You know, being mistreated and deeply abused by hate filled officers. I say hate filled, because I don't know how decent humans treat other humans like that. Perhaps there are popular behavioral experiments that could explain police behavior? Just perhaps.
No, the "police" have always been against us. They have always ostensibly served at our pleasure, but the truth is, they're just paid enforcers and murderers for the 1 percent. It has ALWAYS been the police against protestors, which is just another way of saying that has always been police against the working man and unions. The police are the buffer between the poor, the middle class, and the upper classes.
Only difference here for black people specifically is perhaps the playing field and conditions. War on drugs instead of a factory, material deprivation, programs targeted against minorities. Black people have poor working conditions, wage theft, and all the standard union refrains, IN ADDITION TO, the systemic racism they must deal with. Unfortunately, as MLK said, the riot is the language of the unheard. Black protestors have been pushed into a corner for a long damn time, and it's too easy to demonize and deflect because of a small percentage of looters and criminal opportunists. Not to mention many interests on the ground with their own agendas trying to take advantage of the situation
Your point about white people being the majority abused by police is somewhat correct, and it's not reported enough, but it also doesn't matter. It is happening to black people many times more than it is happening to white people, and it is not commensurate with the percentage of the whole. What's worse, is that white people seem to not want to believe this. Even with video, it seems that the only cases that matter are when the victim is black. I don't find that a coincidence, but a concerted effort to continue to divide us.
That's because one of the best men this country has ever seen, tirelessly worked on behalf of the unions and the workers, because he knew the SECRET. Before the Civil War started, this man would speak at union gatherings and conventions about how the "negro must be embraced as our brother, and brought into the unions". If white and black people ever came together? If they became organized and unified in a union of brothers and sisters seeking common goals?
The power in this country would shit themselves in abject fucking terror. Black people have to deal with a lot more shit, and for a long damn time. It's about time the dam burst, and I can only hope that a critical mass of multi-ethnic multi-racial people will organize to tear the whole system down.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday June 05 2020, @01:46PM
When riots break out, what do you want to happen? Do you want them to destroy the stores you need? Do you want them to burn your home to the ground, drag you and your family out and beat you to death on your front lawn? You want the police and national guard to stand down then?
Well, I'll tell you what you get if you do that: real civil war. If the government abdicates its responsibility to maintain law and order, citizens will do it themselves. They will make mistakes, because they are not trained for chaotic situations. Innocent people will die. That will stoke more anger, and pretty soon the streets run with blood. How well do you think that works out for people who are 13% of the population as they start a race war against the people who are 73% of the population?
There comes a point at which there's no turning back from that eventuality. We've been heading toward that point for 30 years, and are very close now.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 03 2020, @07:09PM (1 child)
yes, this incident and many other are directly or indirectly due to the unconstitutional (criminal) drug war and it's offspring the Prison Industrial Complex, militarized police, etc. Whites need to quit being passive aggressive with their laws and votes, be honest with themselves and just decide if they want to live in a multicultural society or not. If not, organize, buy land in one area, buy people out who don't fit the mold, and take that area over politically. Don't enforce fed laws locally and repel/disappear invading feds or other invaders after fair warning.
This country is lost as a white nation, at least for now. Either get used to being the scapegoat and a second class citizen, per the Bolshevik cultural marxists' agenda, as the shell of the powerhouse you built is captured by ingrates incapable of sustaining it long term, or get busy building a defensible racial homeland! There could be a region for black nationalists (southeast), a region for "viva la raza" folk (southwest), a region for people who think they want to live in a multicultural society, etc. Perhaps under a mutual protection/anti-aggression pact/confederacy.
Also, just the proposal of an amicable, peaceful split is probably cultural relativism on my part, as none of these freeloaders will let Whites leave peacefully. They will do anything to stop Whites from having a safe prosperous country free from intervention and manipulation. Just look at what they did to Germany for trying to kick the Jew saboteurs and interlopers out and rebuild their country. Just a continuation of WW1. They killed millions and then sent in their conquered red horde to rape the remaining civilian women and children. That's what this is all about. Just look at what the media and complicit whore corps are doing with TV in general. If you can't see the writing on the wall, you're fucking blind.
Super wealthy Jews like Rothchild and race traitor internationalist banksters/captains of industry, using reality TV stars like Trump to keep the dumb White funding and supporting their own destruction, while the machine for White Genocide is built. Learn about real history if you think this is crazy talk. Why do you think the Jews in congress and big tech are panicking to censor the internet? People are finding out everything they have been taught about history, religion, rights/law and economics is a (largely Jew) lie; that's why.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 04 2020, @06:40AM
Right on my white brother!
I don't care that there's more genetic "diversity" between "white folks" than between various ethnic groups.
Murder, violence and oppression are just fine as long as it's us superior white folks doing the murder, violence and oppression.
Kill the Jew! Kill the Nigger!