The Mysteries of History (May 25 Edition)
The Murder of George Floyd
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” — Spanish-American philosopher George Santayana, 1905
“He is free to evade reality, he is free to unfocus his mind and stumble blindly down any road he pleases, but not free to avoid the abyss he refuses to see.” — Alice O’Connor, 1961
2020 — 21st Century Lynching
public domain image from wikimedia commons
Five years ago today, 46-year-old George Floyd was murdered in Minnesota by Derek Chauvin, who was then a policeman.
Like many of the 5,000 or more lynchings of black people that have occurred throughout United States history, Floyd died from asphyxiation. He tried to make it known that he was being suffocated by repeatedly stating that he couldn’t breathe. His treatment at the knee of Chauvin, who knelt on his neck for over nine minutes, was so egregious that bystanders filmed it.
Chauvin is not deaf. He heard Mr. Floyd’s pleas. He simply didn’t care. Nor, apparently, did the other officers on the scene, who participated in the mistreatment.
Reminiscent of the Rodney King beating that was videotaped by a local witness in Los Angeles in 1991, a video of the murder of Floyd was made public for all the world to see. Protests began immediately there in Minneapolis and quickly spread to the rest of the Nation and throughout the world (the second picture from the left below was taken in England).
The protests were so large, widespread, and prolonged that over 200 American cities imposed curfews, and the National Guard was activated in half of the country in order to suppress the demonstrations.
Chauvin was no stranger to being involved in questionable conduct: There had been 18 complaints against him for misconduct. The average for an American policeman is around three complaints for every ten years on the job; Chauvin excelled at misconduct, racking up an average of one such complaint each year.
Almost immediately after Chauvin killed Floyd, his wife filed for divorce. Chauvin is expected to be released from prison in the mid-to-late 2030s.
Questions: Do you remember hearing about George Floyd’s death five years ago? Do you think defunding the police makes any sense? Do you consider Derek Chauvin to be chauvinistic?
