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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: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 02 2020, @09:14PM (5 children)
I don't understand why there isn't more agreement among people on this issue. The data suggest that black people are more likely to vote for Democrats than a lot of white people. This corresponds somewhat to liberal and conservative attitudes. But it seems like liberals and conservatives should have some common ground on this issue.
Black people rightly distrust law enforcement. There are enough police who disproportionately target minorities, yet many of the police seem to get away with even egregiously wrong behaviors. There are related issues like civil asset forfeiture and the militarization of police. And I'd be remiss not to mention the growing demands by law enforcement to weaken encryption, which will harm everyone's privacy and security. The war on drugs has increased violent crime, needlessly sent non-violent criminals to prison where they may become violent, and hasn't been successful at all.
Law enforcement is totally out of control. Whether you're a black person who is frustrated with police behavior in your community or a white libertarian who distrusts law enforcement on the basis of your underlying principles, there should be agreement on this matter. Surely this should be a point of common ground.
Why, then, have we been polarized on this issue? If anything, there should be a lot of common ground here between the left and a good portion of the right. This shouldn't be a divisive issue.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 02 2020, @09:36PM (2 children)
I completely agree. There are any number of folks around here who normally are screaming about government overreach and authoritarianism.
With the murder of George Floyd, I see most of those people (with some exceptions -- Khallow and Sulla) giving a shrug or trying to blame their perceived political enemies and/or turn peaceful protesting into some sort of continuous riot (which isn't supported by the facts).
Why aren't pretty much all of those people up in arms over the blatant abuse of governmental power? I'm sure there are a number of explanations:
1. They're taking their cues from Trump, who wants to roll out troops in the street -- yeah, that's the Libertarian way -- riiiight;
2. They being opportunistic (like the small groups of looters) in trying to use this as a political cudgel against their perceived enemies (other Americans);
3. They think that by trying to paint the hundreds of thousands of peaceful protestors as rioters/looters, even though they're clearly different groups, they can scare middle-class white people into Trump's arms in November.
I'm sure there are other reasons too, especially since they figure, "well, it was just a darkie. He must have deserved it." and other, perhaps darker motives.
So if you *really* believe in limited government and support individual rights, you should be just as horrified and angry about George Floyd's intentional murder as any progressive. If you're not, you might want to reconsider what liberty is really all about.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday June 03 2020, @04:00PM (1 child)
You are quite glossing over the differentiation even figures like khallow have done in this very thread between peaceful protest, which should be protected, and police violence, which should be condemned, and looters, vandals, and assailants, who are committing crimes and must be prosecuted.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 03 2020, @04:23PM
Which is what I said. And Sulla too. Or that may have been in one of the journals.
My point was that aside from Khallow and Sulla most of the others are using misinformation and outright lies to conflate the peaceful protestors with rioters/looters to advance their racist/authoritarian/Trump cock gobbling agenda.
Kind of like you Phoenix.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Joe Desertrat on Tuesday June 02 2020, @09:58PM
The reason you have to ask this question is a good part of the reason this is all blowing up now. For the most part, the police simply enforce the status quo. The status quo differs a lot for different people though, and politicians have brainwashed a large part of their base that this benefits them.
Your typical conservative might look at the Floyd incident and think "this is awful", but at the same time they think it isn't anything that might affect them, and instead of being outraged at the killing, become outraged at the reaction to it. Peaceful protest apparently is not going to raise awareness, just ask Colin Kaepernick how that worked, it is far more likely to be hijacked by opponents to be about something it is not about.
Something else that concerns me, how do we let police officers become so dehumanized that they can kneel on the neck of someone who isn't resisting arrest and think that is in any way, shape or form a right thing to do? Perhaps we need far more frequent mandatory psychological evaluations in that job.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 03 2020, @03:31AM
Racism is alive and well. It's the only explanation.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 02 2020, @10:04PM
This guy is saying that the riots are "a coordinated FOREIGN attack on the US." [twitter.com]
Black Lives Matter supports foreign terrorists [imemc.org] so maybe they got some friends to help them out.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 02 2020, @10:41PM
If government introduces fear-oriented politics, forcing instability and uncertainty to exploit people for economic gains, then it may backfire. Government institutions have strategists and planning divisions, so if it would be a peaceful protest, the result would be the same as usual - nothing, the thing would be extinguished, known, predicted. People will go out, shout for the moment and go back to work, thing will dry out and in a year another police killings would happen. Rinse, repeat.
But now, it's a blind force, there are lootings and mass demolition, so now the government is subjected to the same fear they put in their citizens. And it looks like they start to fear.
In entire world, we see that while people are locked in home quarantines, are losing jobs and contact with loved ones, politicians ride the country, neglect safety measures they forced with police batons and take "not working" medications as a precaution. The only thing that comes to mind is that they are already immune, but the vaccine is not for everyone. Fortunately, in my so-highly-developed European country we have developed so slavish mentality that nobody wants to think about it :).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 02 2020, @11:30PM (17 children)
If he wasn't passing counterfeit bills, he would be alive.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 02 2020, @11:35PM (3 children)
Root cause is rap and hip hop music. If rappers and hip hoppers weren't constantly telling people to kill police, the police might treat African Americans better.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 03 2020, @12:24AM
Hiya Ben! How's Mrs. Shapiro doing? Is her AOC costume doing the trick to get your intimacy back on track?
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 03 2020, @12:11PM (1 child)
This. The other day when police Chief Erika Shields was on TV asking the protesters to stop, they brought out rapper Killer Mike to talk, and he was wearing a t-shirt that read "Kill Your Masters"
"Kill Your Masters"? Really?! That is OK somehow?
Right, killing WHITE people is fine and dandy!
If they brought out some white person to talk, would it have been OK if they had been wearing a t-shirt that read "Beat Your Slaves?" Whats that? You don't think so? No, I don't think so, either. So why is "Kill Your Masters" somehow OK? On public TV. While supposedly trying to calm mostly black protesters. Very insulting.
And people wonder why racism is increasing in the US.
(Score: 2) by Tork on Friday June 05 2020, @07:07AM
No they aren't. You have a poor understanding of cause-and-effect.
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 03 2020, @12:27AM (4 children)
If you weren't a bigoted dipshit you wouldn't be raising pigs in a reeducation camp in 2027.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 03 2020, @12:34AM (1 child)
I thought you Democrats were vegans? Or is that only the millennial wing of the party?
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 03 2020, @01:17AM
Hi asshole, did the marines at least put lipstick on you before they fucked you out of basic?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 03 2020, @01:55AM (1 child)
Lay off already. Don't you have a church to burn or something?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 03 2020, @02:27AM
Aww tough alpha's skin wearing thin? Projecting your own desires for violence again? It is the coward's way.
Don't worry, you're safe from me until you decide to commit that violence you keep dreaming about.
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 03 2020, @12:32AM
It's because too many people like him just have no morals. Why do you think he and his type get all this police attention? Because they just can't stop committing crime and live an honest life. For a minority, Asians as a whole show how you ought to do it. Stay in school, get an honest job, fucking quit stealing from other honest people. I am not going to mourn too hard for this guy. Keep cops honest, yes. Put the cop on trial. But this guy some sort of martyr? This was a local news story at best. If you want police brutality (sometimes fatal) local stories, I've some, but because the victims were WHITE, who cares. It never made national news. No marches, no looting, no burning down businesses or churches.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Tork on Wednesday June 03 2020, @06:46AM
Lazy troll is lazy.
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 2) by Demena on Wednesday June 03 2020, @12:32PM (1 child)
How do you know you have never passed counterfeit? I mean counterfeit is meant to pass as real money.
Much of it does. A certain percentage of circulating currency is counterfeit. Unavoidable fact. Most US currency is contaminated with cocaine. Should you be arrested just for carrying US currency?
Regretfully the laws about currency are federal and this law says possessing or passing counterfeit a felony whether you knew it was counterfeit. I cannot see the justice in this.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 03 2020, @01:04PM
Yep. I was given a counterfeit bill as change once, didn't know until I tried to spend it. Luckily the store owner told me and showed me rather than calling the cops.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 03 2020, @12:34PM
His real crime was using CASH instead of the latest and greatest and coolest Apple smart-phone locked-in payment technology. After all, cash has covid cooties these day. Everyone knows that doing things old ways is punishable by death.
Don't worry, in the future, law enforcement will be handled by AI. Brought to you by Walmart! In fact, here is the prototype right now. Please introduce yourself Mr. ED209!
(Score: 3, Touché) by cmdrklarg on Wednesday June 03 2020, @06:06PM (1 child)
You know, you're right! In fact, let's extend this idea out. If you're caught committing a crime, then BOOM! You're dead! Littering? Dead. Jaywalking? Dead. Accidentally crashing into the flower beds when playing football? Dead. Passing a counterfeit bill? Damn straight that's a capital offense! Let's go full out Judge Dredd on this.
We'll even let the cops get creative on how they kill you. That'll be fun. Give them a bonus if they come up with a new way to kill the perps.
What, you're innocent? Bullshit! Dead.
.
.
.
If you're finding what I have above to be absurd, then I have made my point. The scenario was absurd when it was done on ST:TNG, it was absurd when I typed out the above, and it was absurd when you posted your AC authoritarian bullshit above.
Do you want the root cause? It's authoritarian assholes like yourself that make it "OK" for cops to get away with shit like this.
The world is full of kings and queens who blind your eyes and steal your dreams.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 04 2020, @02:13AM
Sometimes, I think some people think Judge Dredd is describing a Utopia.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by toddestan on Thursday June 04 2020, @03:14AM
Chances are pretty good that George Floyd didn't even realize the bill was a counterfeit. Even the shop owner agrees on that - he called the police because that's what he's supposed to do when someone passes a counterfeit, but most anyone who knowingly spends a phony bill is long gone by the time the cops show up.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 03 2020, @02:59AM (1 child)
Much ado about nothing.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 03 2020, @06:32AM
So...What you really mean is "Meh. Just another dead nigger. Good job, but you should have killed the other two that were in the car too," Right?
Scumbag.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 03 2020, @09:14AM (1 child)
Well, THAT went well.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 03 2020, @09:35AM
Tell that to George Foreman.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday June 03 2020, @04:04PM (2 children)
I agree with the plan to use this story as a lightning rod to draw all the riot/protest discussion. We'll see if it works.
Anybody who doesn't want to see or talk about it should skip this one.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by Booga1 on Wednesday June 03 2020, @05:29PM (1 child)
Well, your comment is on page three of over 280 comments at this point. I'd say the strategy is pretty effective. We'll know for sure once random comments stop appearing on other articles.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 03 2020, @06:26PM
Probably wont stop off-topic comments. Peope are pissed and they want people to take this fascist bullshit seriously, so letting the story die as we move on with the status quo is not likely to happen for every user around here.
Personally I try and remain on topic for whatever thread/article.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 03 2020, @07:34PM (2 children)
Where's Whitey's national news coverage, protests, and riots?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYRRSdjdcbo [youtube.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 04 2020, @02:30AM (1 child)
Tony Timpa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_c-E_i8Q5G0 [youtube.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 04 2020, @02:34AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HujPlUyTXRY [youtube.com]
Unless you actually search, none of these stories make the media narrative.