MINNEAPOLIS , MINNESOTA – MAY 31: The makeshift memorial and mural outside Cup Foods where George Floyd was murdered by a Minneapolis police officer on Sunday, May 31, 2020 in Minneapolis , Minnesota. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
“Peace on the left, Justice on the right!” is a chant that emanated from the George Floyd memorial program at the site of his murder.
Protests against police brutality and police shootings have reached a new level of nationwide outcries. Up to the response to George Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis by policeman Derek Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck, the most famous, and too often most controversial, protest against police murders was the taking of a knee by professional football athlete Colin Kaepernick.
Digital technology, and specifically cameras on mobile phones often offer contradictory views from official police reports. Initially, the police report stated that Floyd resisted arrest. But camera footage by bystanders contradicted the initial police report. Specifically, the most damning footage was from a seventeen-year-old woman who posted to Facebook and emotionally distraught gave a statement about what she saw and what she videoed.
Three days later, one of the police officers was charged with third-degree murder. There is nevertheless a long way to go. Jailing and conviction of police officers who shoot or otherwise brutalize and murder civilians, particularly Black men.
Check out this powerful analysis by Trevor Noah, the host of the Daily Show on television.
Stay woke. A luta continua (the struggle continues).