George Floyd Victim Of The Modern Lynching By Modern Slave Catchers

 

The George Floyd Mural in Minneapolis painted by Xena Goldman Cadex Herrera and Greta McLain

May 25, 2020, Minneapolis, MN –George Floyd had a past with a criminal record and ongoing problems with addiction. He never tried to deny these facts even as he worked to build a life free from that past. On this day though that life would end at the hands of four police officers even though he was attempting to be compliant and had done nothing violent.

George Floyd had broken the law that day. In Cup Foods, the combined grocery and convenience store on the corner of 38^th and Chicago Streets, he had passed a counterfeit $ 20 bill. The store was part of the Powderhorn Community in Minneapolis. A store, a message center, and a community gathering place. As described by Christopher Martin, the former cashier on duty that day. At the time Martin lived in the apartment above the store. He knew everyone and George Floyd wasn’t a regular.

Floyd bought his cigarettes with a fake $20 bill. Martin recognized it as a counterfeit and said he considered paying for the cigarettes himself but decided not to be involved this way with someone he didn’t know. Accepting the fake bill, Martin called his owners, who called the police.

Floyd was in an SUV across the street from the store when the police arrived and confronted him. Guns drawn they forced him from his vehicle and handcuffed him. They forced Floyd into one of the police cars. Floyd begged them not to because he had claustrophobia. Once in the car he moved across the seat to the other side of the car. This is when his murderer, Officer Derek Chauvin, pulled him out and pinned him with his knee on his neck.

Floyd begged Chauvin to let him roll over and breathe, he didn’t fight he just kept saying he couldn’t breathe. This went on for nine minutes but after the four-minute mark, Floyd had stopped begging for his life.

While Chauvin was killing Floyd the other officers kept other residents at bay and refused to allow any assistance. When the paramedics arrived, they loaded Floyd into the ambulance, he was declared DOA at the hospital, although evidence showed he had died there on the street.

An autopsy was performed the next day, and the Hennepin County Medical Examiner declared the cause of death the restraint by Chauvin. While there was evidence of heart disease and drug use the evidence showed that it was the violent restraint and asphyxiation that killed Floyd. A second autopsy was done for the Floyd family by an independent medical examiner who reported the same.

Protests broke out that night in Minneapolis and on May 26 it broke out in hundreds of cities. By the end of June, backed by Black Lives Matter and other justice and equality organizations the protests became global with protests in 2,000 cities. Between May 26 and August 26 24 million people in the U.S. were part of the protests and vigils for peace. Protests were peaceful but so large many mayors requested the National Guard to assist regular law enforcement creating tension.

By the end of June, curfews had been established in 200 cities. National Guard movement from May 26 to August 27 became the largest movement of troops in U.S. domestic history after the Civil War. At the end of summer, 14,000 arrests and 19 deaths were attributed to civil unrest.

While this was happening, Minneapolis was moving forward toward justice. The four officers had been fired, and Chauvin was charged with 2nd-degree murder and the other three with aiding and abetting 2nd-degree murder. The officers were also investigated by the state and federal civil rights offices.

J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao were convicted of violating Floyd’s Civil Rights and served 3.5 years in Prison. Thomas Lane was the officer least involved and received two years.

Chauvin was charged with unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter and was convicted on all charges; appeals to the Minnesota and United States Supreme Court were denied. He is serving 22 years for the murder of Floyd.

Sadly, even though the murders of George Floyd were captured and convicted and the world summoned outrage at the injustice nothing has changed. Police unions have stopped reform proposals. President Biden increased federal funding to local departments. Fatal actions by police have increased each year since 2020. In the four years since the George Floyd murder 4,400 citizens have been killed, 955 of them Black.

There was an overwhelming response to the murder of George Floyd as opposed to the average lynching of the Jim Crow era, but as with so many other events the systematic racism and White Supremacy built into America was too formidable to dismantle, perhaps even be shaken.