George Floyd

It’s been four years since the nation erupted in protest following George Floyd’s murder by police in Minneapolis. But Selwyn Jones, Floyd’s uncle, has found a way to help achieve some good out of the national rage and his immense personal grief.

After the murder of George Floyd sparked massive Black Lives Matter demonstrations, the country’s largest banks announced big financial commitments to help address racial inequality. Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley wants to know how much money has been spent so far and where it has gone.

“Stonebreakers” by Italian director Valerio Ciriaci is a documentary chronicling the toppling of statues and monuments during the George Floyd protests and the 2020 presidential election.

Police claim that they feared for their lives in confronting civilians and use deadly force solely in self-defense. Judges and juries routinely buy this line and acquit.

Little has changed in policing in the year since the death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer.

Police unions have been wildly successful in watering down, if not outright killing, many police reform measures in state legislatures, even in the most liberal, Democratic-controlled states.

Cops are sending a deadly message that Chauvin will in no way change things. Their message: Police will continue to police in mostly minority communities the same way, up to and including the use of force.

Following the unanimous triple-guilty pronouncement that a Minneapolis jury handed former police officer Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd, President Joe Biden spoke to the country. “Such a verdict is,” he said earnestly and with empathy, “much too rare.” Biden’s assessment contains a crucial detail about why racism is so persistently intractable.

Protestors expressed optimism, determination during demonstrations last week.

Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin got his day in court. He was able to put on a plausible defense that George’s Floyd’s death did not come at his hands (or knee) but because of Floyd’s prior severe medical conditions.

The bulging numbers of Blacks in America’s jails and prisons seem to reinforce the wrong-headed perception that crime and violence in America invariably comes with a Black male face such as Floyd’s.

The officers who worked with Chauvin almost certainly were not blind to his actions. As Chauvin’s knee slowly choked the life out of him, other officers either did nothing to assist Floyd, or worse, piled on to subdue a man already lying on the ground near death.