The verdict for the murder of Mr. George Floyd came in right, thankfully. The white policeman, Derek Chauvin, was found guilty on three counts of murder.
His knee on Floyd’s neck was murder. It was akin to a modern-day lynching, rather than hanging from a tree, we now see policemen shooting and kneeing young Black males for the slightest behavior.
Floyd never should have been killed. The policeman did not heed his cry for air as he was being suffocated, saying that he could not breathe. He totally disregarded him as a human being, the policeman looked like a hunter relishing his conquered game, as he held Floyd down for nearly 9 minutes, taking the life out of him, as Floyd cried twenty-seven times “I can’t breathe.”
A young teenage girl 17 years old, Darnella Frazier, got it all on a cell phone, which was the clincher for the case. She held a steady hand and got it all on her cell phone for the world to see. Hard to deny your eyes of what is actually in front of you. That’s the new element to the crime story, the cell phone camera was taken by the witness on the street before the news media gets to the scene of the crime with reactionary interviews. The Facebook post tells the story, a picture is worth a thousand words, and a video is worth a conviction. The video upset the world and the marches all over began as people shouted, “I can’t breathe.”
White policemen and white men have been killing Black men since 1619 with no to little consequence, even when most knew who the guilty party was. White males have had no accountability in the murder of Black men. Black males have died at the hand of white males for minutia. The incidents have included, not moving off the sidewalk, or looking at a white woman or looking a white male in the eye, or just being in the wrong place at the wrong time when a Black man was being sought. And today we see the white policemen killing Blacks over minor traffic violations or shooting as they entered the wrong door, think Breonna Taylor. Not having license tags on your car is no reason to be killed. The story that is lost on Emmitt Till is that he stuttered. An all-white jury acquitted his murderers. The policemen, who beat Rodney King, for drunk driving, were acquitted, another case of a tape showing white policeman unruly beating a Black male with justification for the white male policemen.
The New Equation…
What is not factored into these equations is the White man’s fear of the Black male. You wonder if George Floyd had been shorter and of a smaller frame, would he have been treated with such brutal force. The white male, policeman particularly being held accountable and responsible for black murder is new to America. Policemen have literally gotten away with murder, in the line of duty. What the cases of LaQuan McDonald and George Floyd represent is policemen being charged for murder in the line of duty. This is the real revelation and the reason for the jump for joy as the verdict is revealed. The jovialness is not a jump for joy but rather a jump for justice, overdue. The first step in these cases is being tried in court, then the trial, then the verdict, and now we await the sentence. These white men’s lives have changed forever and they serve as real examples of what can happen to brutal, trigger-happy police.
So, as we listen as the pundits discuss the solutions for such crimes, we constantly hear the policemen need better training, additional training, different training, and the like. Training might be a partial answer, but it is not the real answer. The answer is when these verdicts come forth and the policemen are locked up for murder, that is the example in your face, that might make you think, rethink the shooting or the murder or the brutal beating. While we celebrate in real-time, also know that 181 Blacks have been killed throughout America, by police hands since Floyd’s death. The American reality is on average three people are killed daily by policemen.
Police Have Hard Jobs…
Policemen everywhere have one of the hardest jobs in America. Policemen live day by day and each call is dangerous from a traffic stop to a domestic call. They never know what’s on the other side. Black people are afraid of the police and white police are afraid of Black males. We must say it. The Ku Klux Klan and the like infiltrated police forces, to give them license to carry a gun and to keep Blacks living in a place of fear, no matter education, position, or social status. Truth be told, Barack Obama, is not safe on American streets, as a Black male. Let him walk the streets of Harlem, South or West Side of Chicago, Watts in L.A. one dark evening alone and watch what might happen. The white policeman with a gun and a badge has the power on the street. I have heard Black sports figures claim to wear suits after the game so that if they are stopped, they have a better chance of being alive than in casual clothes.
So, America is facing real justice, that is, justice for the case. This has revolutionary tones and for this, we celebrate and set yet another benchmark in history in the justice department for Black America. Yet we still live with the fear. After the Floyd verdict as the newscaster was still capturing reaction, six more people were shot by policemen. A little girl with a knife who was suffering bully abuse was killed. A young man, Daunte Wright, was stopped for expired auto plates. He was killed by a policewoman. When did not having proper tags on your car become so dangerous, that it constitutes grounds for murder?
How Ironic is the Academy Awards?
And the irony of the day is the Academy Awards. The best supporting actor for 2020 went to Daniel Kaluuya for his brilliant role in Judas and The Black Messiah. The film was the Hollywood version of the life and death of the murder of Fred Hampton, Chairman of The Black Panther Party, who died at the age of 21 years old on December 4, 1969.
This was a case of a government-ordered murder by the FBI and J. Edgar Hoover and carried out by the then State’s Attorney, Edward Hanrahan. This is a clear case of murder by the government, white policemen killing Black young males in an early morning shoot out because they dared to stand up to police brutality in Black neighborhoods. The predawn search is where 80 gunshots were fired into a small apartment as Hampton slept, with the intent to kill. The story tells the tale of how the Panthers were set up and infiltrated by law enforcement officials. No one, at all, was ever tried for murder. White policemen got away with cold-blooded murder with no accountability or responsibility, whatsoever, making Hampton appear to be a criminal of sorts.
We need some new rules; some new laws and we need some new policemen. There is a back-story on the George Floyd case. The jury was not all white the jury was mixed race. The police chief was not white, the prosecutor, Keith Ellis was not white and Attorney Jerry Blackwell worked for no fee. As, as a Black male, he too shared the experience of being stopped by white policemen for trivial matters. The trial had the eyes of the world watching, but there was also internal diversity from witnesses to government officials. Black eyes saw the case with new eyes. The case was not established before it went to court. It was actually tried in court with evidence and the men of blue testifying that the force went overboard. Such testimony was a game-changer and established a new course on policing.
Bravo America for getting it right and now we can breathe better. Change because diversity matters.
