The Times has reconstructed the death of George Floyd on May 25. Security footage, witness videos and official documents show how a series of actions by officers turned fatal.
On May 25, Minneapolis police officers arrested George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, after a convenience store employee called 911 and told the police that Mr. Floyd had bought cigarettes with a counterfeit $20 bill. Seventeen minutes after the first squad car arrived at the scene, Mr. Floyd was unconscious and pinned beneath three police officers, showing no signs of life.
By combining videos from bystanders and security cameras, reviewing official documents and consulting experts, The New York Times reconstructed in detail the minutes leading to Mr. Floyd’s death. Our video shows officers taking a series of actions that violated the policies of the Minneapolis Police Department and turned fatal, leaving Mr. Floyd unable to breathe, even as he and onlookers called out for help.
The day after Mr. Floyd’s death, the Police Department fired all four of the officers involved in the episode. On May 29, the Hennepin County attorney, Mike Freeman, announced third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter charges against Derek Chauvin, the officer seen most clearly in witness videos pinning Mr. Floyd to the ground. Mr. Chauvin, who is white, kept his knee on Mr. Floyd’s neck for at least eight minutes and 15 seconds, according to a Times analysis of timestamped video. Our video investigation shows that Mr. Chauvin did not remove his knee even after Mr. Floyd lost consciousness and for a full minute and 20 seconds after paramedics arrived at the scene.
On June 3, Hennepin County prosecutors added a more serious second-degree murder charge against Mr. Chauvin and also charged each of the three other former officers — Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao — with aiding and abetting second-degree murder.
On June 18, the Hennepin County attorney’s office said that its criminal complaint misstated the amount of time Mr. Chauvin kept his knee on Mr. Floyd’s neck. The complaint originally said that Mr. Chauvin had done so for eight minutes and 46 seconds, a length of time that became a symbol and rallying cry for protesters. Responding to inquiries from journalists who noted a discrepancy with the durations listed in the complaint, the office said the actual time was seven minutes and 46 seconds. But The Times’s own analysis of the video shows that this revised time is also incorrect.
“It makes no difference,” said Jamar Nelson, who works with the families of crime victims in Minneapolis. “The bottom line is, it was long enough to kill him, long enough to execute him.”
The recent trend in global challenges concerning the justice systems in the United States of America
ReplyDelete(USA) occasioned by the death (or murdered) George Floyd in Minneapolis in the State of Minnesota has presented the need to holistically address the issue of racism (of Black versus White).
On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, died in Minneapolis, Minnesota, after white police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes while Floyd was handcuffed and lying face down on the street.
Despite the calls by onlookers to Derek (the Policemen) to remove his knee from the neck of
Floyd, he refused. His colleagues at the same time pinned down Floyd resting their frames on his back. These men remained unmoved with the 16 times Floyd called out that he “cannot breathe.” Seconds after the 16th time Floyd called on his mother...” mama” twice, and went into unconsciousness! It was only then that the Police officers called for the Ambulance to come to the
scene.
Nevertheless, the rest is history. George Floyd perhaps was already dead with the foam that oozed
out of his mouth. The foam preceded the blood, which streamed from his mouth.
Despite opinions about competence by the cross-section (white) of the public on Michael Baden,
who was hired by relatives of George Floyd, to conduct the post mortem or the county (who works for the police) medical examiners comments, George Floyd has been murdered.
This situation looks like a movie. Looking back at the CCTV footages, many thoughts ran through my mind. What if there is no CCTV, and what if there were no concerned citizens that started the filming. The citizens were resolute to document the scenes despite the efforts of Derek’s colleagues to ward them off.
The entire scenario playback in a different setting, for instance, in Nigeria presents a perfect
similarity. It, therefore, suggests that there is no difference in the character of men employed for policing globally. Events have shown that the difference in policing in Africa, Europe and America is that the developed economies have modern equipment and communication gadgets than what is obtainable in many African countries.
However, what this situation has painted is that extra-judicial killings are not limited to the
ethnically biased systems obtained in many African systems but also the norm in the western economies only that it is the opposite of ethnicity- Racism!
Unfortunately, a country viewed as the custodian of the ideal democratic principles is no
different from the usual dark leadership of known authoritarian regimes in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
With tears, I watched the video of the killing. It brought memories of other brutalities on blacks
and people of colour to mind. No doubt, the youths in Minneapolis, Washington, all over the states of America, revolted that enough is enough! The emotions were
high to see corresponding solidarity in faraway in cities of London, Sidney, Toronto and many other cities of the world. This effect did not get lost in Africa, as major cities like Lagos saw the youths rise to the call that “Black Lives Matter.”
Surprisingly though to see the support against racism coming from Nigeria. A country under the
shackle of severe issues of ethnicity and bigotry. I would have thought we focus on that issue and see how well things could turn. However, the consolation is that the youths solidarity in Nigeria is a sign that sometimes in the future, the shackled youths and the downtrodden offspring’s of that
great nation will rise to “breathe” from the oppressive hold of the tyranny of the ruling elites!
One thing still going for those in America is the quick response to medical attention, post- mortem
and court trials. In some countries that I know of, it would have been “another one bite the dust”... with additional epaulette adorned the uniforms of the Killer policemen! Most cases end up in probe committees whose reports ends on the piles of bygone unimplemented probe outcomes.
This is an Artefact Blog created for the Master’s dissertation on Communicative influence of social media images on collective actions: A content Analysis of images enhanced tweets and Facebook messages in reaction to brutality of George Floyd.
DeleteThe social identity model of collective action scholarship literature is largely predictive of collective action aims and (to a lesser extent) behaviour. While information and media material are distributed through a variety of channels for public consumption, the effect of visuals and imagery on collective action is mostly unknown. While mass movements use digital channels and social media to influence social change and relieve societal problems, collective action is a critical method for transforming power relations (Sreedharan et al., 2019).
Within the social structure, research on people' motivations for large protests dates all the way back to the nineteenth century. (2003) (Gitlin): Civil societies react to social injustice in ways that go beyond mere reflection. Movements are sparked by emotions—primarily fear and hope; later, solidarity generates collective rage against oppressors (Castells., 2015). This implies that political and social variables are critical. The significance of images to movements has been recognised, as seen by encounters with police and the visual iconography used by movements to alter public opinion and garner popular support (Casas and Williams 2018). There is a modest but increasing body of scholarship about the importance of news images in mobilising public participation.
Advocacy organisations and their campaigns play a critical role in mobilising citizens to address environmental challenges. Campaigns are launched across a variety of outlets, including television, radio, and new media outlets (Wang, Corner, Chapman, & Markowitz, 2018). Due to the accessibility and dynamic nature of Facebook and Twitter, they have become a more attractive medium of public communication and instrument for social mobilisation (Bergström and Belfrage, 2018). Thus, the perception of media images may have a considerable influence on collective activities, as seen by the May 2020 BlackLivesMatter campaign and the November 2020 Nigeria EndSars demonstrations.
Twitter and Facebook were the primary communication channels for these two events. The spontaneity and communality were enormous. This raises the issue of what may have been the additional driving factor behind the two demonstrations' near-global participation: The Tweets, Facebook tales, or the Images that circulated alongside the Tweets and Facebook tales. As a result, this research contributes to existing knowledge on the power of shared pictures and imageries as crucial influencers.
The study is a qualitative content analysis of initial 50 tweets and messages on microblogging services of Twitter and Facebook in reactions to images of George Floyd's brutality by Minneapolis police officers', and in relation to the preceding protests; this study examined the sentiment occurring in reaction to relevant tweets (and retweets) given the feature of "retweeting," while establishing the elicited negative /positive reactions for collective actions.
Hi How do you feel when this image of George comes to mind?
ReplyDeleteI feel bitter and devastated at the oppression of the black lives
ReplyDeleteThis shows the blatant disregard for black lives by the American police!!!
ReplyDeleteThis is just too sad
ReplyDeleteWe live in an odd world.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that Justice has been served is amazing. A young man's life was cut short by law enforcement officers who are meant to protect the people. May his would rest in peace.
ReplyDeleteHmmm, its really bad
ReplyDeleteIt's sad thinking about what a black man faces every day.
ReplyDeleteI'm really shocked with the system. Gory details like this spurs one to rise up against the state
DeleteOn George Floyd;
ReplyDeleteA Crime That Started With Hands Painfully Cuffed, Progressed Into Life Snuffed Out By Asphyxiation! For Ten Minutes, A Knee Brutally Thronged On The Neck Of A Black Man By A White Police Officer, In An Attempt To Arrest Him!
In A Country Where Laws On Treatment Of Animals Are Enacted, It Is Difficult To Understand Why He, A Human, An American Should Be Treated Way Less Than An Animal Would.
Indeed, It Wasn't Surprising To See That Happen To A "Man Of Colour", It Had Become A Norm To Treat Men And Women Of Colour Unjustly Without Recourse To How Inhumane Such Treatment Was, What Was However Surprising Was The Reaction To This!
For The First Time In The United States, Americans Rose Up In Defense Of The Black Life That Was Wasted!
They Backed Up Their Words With Action, Collective Action!
And That Made A Huge Difference In The History Of The United States!
What The World Knows Today Is; Racism In The United States Has Been Replaced With Humanity!
While We Await The Judgment For A Certain Derek Chauvin, The Police Officer Who Traumatically Ended The Life Of Another Human; George Floyd, The Journey To End Injustice On Black Lives Just Started To Peak!
Even after saying he couldn’t breathe!!!! They didn’t care!!!!
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