Kneeling on a neck
George Floyd said "I can't breathe" but Minneapolis PD officer Derek Chauvin continued to press his knee on Floyd's neck. For more than 7 minutes. That was Monday.
It is now Friday. Omar Jimenez, a CNN reporter and his crew were arrested for doing his job. Buildings are ablaze. Protests are spreading to other cities. Donald Trump tweets that looting will lead to shooting.
Twitter applied a label to this tweet.
This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules about glorifying violence. However, Twitter has determined that it may be in the public’s interest for the Tweet to remain accessible. Learn more
After that Twitter label was applied to Trump's tweet, the official White House account doubled-down on the notion that it is okay to shoot looters.
* * *
Watching this unfold on CNN, it is easy to miss the fact that this is not new. Police officers, mostly white officers have been killing people of color under color of authority for decades. The only thing that has really changed during this is the speed at which events are brought into our homes by technological advances.
We know a lot of names now.
George Floyd
Eric Garner
Tamir Rice
Trayvon Martin
Philando Castile
Alton Sterling
There are many more names that are familiar to us. But there are also names we don't know, yet they are part of a pattern that has been going on for a very long time in America.
Robert Bandy was shot by a white cop in 1943 because he had the temerity to hesitate in handing the cop's baton back to him. After the cop had thrown the baton at Bandy. This led to the 1943 Harlem Riots.
James Powell was 15 years old when he was shot and killed by an off-duty police lieutenant in Yorkville (upper East Side of Manhattan) for no good reason. This was the primary cause of the Harlem Riot of 1964.
Phillip Gibbs and James Earl Green were killed on May 15, 1970 at Jackson State College. Now known as Jackson State University, it is one of the largest Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in the U.S. They were killed by police wielding shotguns. This happened 11 days after the Kent State shooting. Kent State is famous because the dead were white students.
Arthur McDuffie was a black insurance salesman who was beaten to death in December of 1979 in Miami, FL. The cops tried to cover up their crime. When they were acquitted at trial in May of 1980, the Liberty City riot that followed that injustice caused the deaths of 18 people.
Clement Lloyd was another unarmed black man killed by Miami cops, in 1989. This led to the Overtown riot. The cop was ultimately convicted of involuntary manslaughter.
Tyron Lewis was shot and killed by cops in St. Petersburg, FL in 1996. He was 18 years of age and unarmed.
Oscar Grant III was shot by a BART cop in Oakland on New Year's Day 2009. He was 22 years old an was being held down by one cop as another murdered him. At least in this instance, the cop was convicted of involuntary manslaughter.
* * *
Non-violent protest isn't bringing about change. I write that not to advocate or support violence. I write it to point out taking a knee has lead to nothing but a knee being used to kill yet another unarmed black man. I write this because I can see how the frustration of these events being repeated time again without action being taken drives people to act.
What is the solution? It is easy to say we must reduce income inequality, increase opportunity, apply resources into the economically disadvantaged segments of the population and so on. Ideas that are easy to espouse and difficult to put into effect.
Let's examine how to make progress in these areas in the days to come.
It is now Friday. Omar Jimenez, a CNN reporter and his crew were arrested for doing his job. Buildings are ablaze. Protests are spreading to other cities. Donald Trump tweets that looting will lead to shooting.
....These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George
Floyd, and I won’t let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told
him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will
assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank
you!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May
29, 2020
Twitter applied a label to this tweet.
This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules about glorifying violence. However, Twitter has determined that it may be in the public’s interest for the Tweet to remain accessible. Learn more
After that Twitter label was applied to Trump's tweet, the official White House account doubled-down on the notion that it is okay to shoot looters.
The President did not glorify violence. He clearly
condemned it.@Jack
and Twitter's biased, bad-faith "fact-checkers" have
made it clear: Twitter is a publisher, not a platform. https://t.co/lTm3Pxxaqg
—
The White House (@WhiteHouse) May
29, 2020
* * *
Watching this unfold on CNN, it is easy to miss the fact that this is not new. Police officers, mostly white officers have been killing people of color under color of authority for decades. The only thing that has really changed during this is the speed at which events are brought into our homes by technological advances.
We know a lot of names now.
George Floyd
Eric Garner
Tamir Rice
Trayvon Martin
Philando Castile
Alton Sterling
There are many more names that are familiar to us. But there are also names we don't know, yet they are part of a pattern that has been going on for a very long time in America.
Robert Bandy was shot by a white cop in 1943 because he had the temerity to hesitate in handing the cop's baton back to him. After the cop had thrown the baton at Bandy. This led to the 1943 Harlem Riots.
James Powell was 15 years old when he was shot and killed by an off-duty police lieutenant in Yorkville (upper East Side of Manhattan) for no good reason. This was the primary cause of the Harlem Riot of 1964.
Phillip Gibbs and James Earl Green were killed on May 15, 1970 at Jackson State College. Now known as Jackson State University, it is one of the largest Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in the U.S. They were killed by police wielding shotguns. This happened 11 days after the Kent State shooting. Kent State is famous because the dead were white students.
Arthur McDuffie was a black insurance salesman who was beaten to death in December of 1979 in Miami, FL. The cops tried to cover up their crime. When they were acquitted at trial in May of 1980, the Liberty City riot that followed that injustice caused the deaths of 18 people.
Clement Lloyd was another unarmed black man killed by Miami cops, in 1989. This led to the Overtown riot. The cop was ultimately convicted of involuntary manslaughter.
Tyron Lewis was shot and killed by cops in St. Petersburg, FL in 1996. He was 18 years of age and unarmed.
Oscar Grant III was shot by a BART cop in Oakland on New Year's Day 2009. He was 22 years old an was being held down by one cop as another murdered him. At least in this instance, the cop was convicted of involuntary manslaughter.
* * *
Non-violent protest isn't bringing about change. I write that not to advocate or support violence. I write it to point out taking a knee has lead to nothing but a knee being used to kill yet another unarmed black man. I write this because I can see how the frustration of these events being repeated time again without action being taken drives people to act.
What is the solution? It is easy to say we must reduce income inequality, increase opportunity, apply resources into the economically disadvantaged segments of the population and so on. Ideas that are easy to espouse and difficult to put into effect.
Let's examine how to make progress in these areas in the days to come.
posted by me at 9:28 AM
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