Chauvin Verdict: An Anomaly or One Step Toward Ending Police Brutality

 

    On March 3, 1991, which was an early Sunday morning, a man was pulled over for driving erratically, as well as, reaching speeds over 100 miles per hour on the Los Angeles Freeway (lattimes.com). The man took the police on a short, yet dangerous chase through residential neighborhoods before finally giving up and exiting his car. That man's name was Rodney King and what occurred seconds later became a historical incident and certainly not one that you should show your young children. I was 6 years old at the time of this barbaric, criminal act, which thanks to a person with a camcorder named George Holliday, the whole country bared witness to police brutality at is most violent, racist and bloodthirsty. King, supposedly out of his mind on PCP, laid helpless and I'm sure expecting to be killed by these men who were paid to "serve and protect the community." The gangland style stomping and clubbing lasted (on the footage at least) for one minute and nineteen seconds. If you've ever been in a boxing match you know how long three minutes really feels when you're in a fight, in a ring, with gloves and a referee, imagine even in his drug induced mind how long that 1 minute and 19 seconds must've felt. The reason I began this with King's incident and the mass rioting after the policemen/attempted murderers were acquitted was, it was the video that really proved to everyone, everywhere, no matter your color or whether you lived in the suburbs, you finally had visual proof that the cops have been assaulting, unlawfully arresting and in the worse cases killing black men for committing low crimes and misdemeanors. Secondly it also was one of my earliest memories of an event that I knew was wrong and would have extremely negative impacts on the world. I could remember the helicopter T.V. films of young, mostly African-Americans setting fire to their city, I vaguely recall asking my mother "why are they burning down their stores?" My mother wasn't all that bright so I can't think of her response, but the point was in my childlike mind I couldn't comprehend the anger, looting and scenes of anarchy I was watching. Now that I'm an adult I realize when a large enough crowd, has been beaten down long enough, been forced into poverty long enough, that will eventually be the end result.

 

   The first person I've ever seen die on camera was Eric Garner. As we all know he was murdered by a police officer who choked the life out from him while his fellow boys (and) girls in blue swarmed around him like angry hornets. Similar to a WWE choke maneuver, Daniel Panteleo grabbed his victim around the neck and  snuffed the life from Mr. Garner as he pleaded for one more breathe of air. It was July 17, 2014 (date courtesy of cnn.com) , before Trump happened, before Charlottesville and of course the January 6th storming of the White house. This stunning, vicious act of police brutality had a very similar effect that the Rodney King footage had on me as a 6 year old boy. Only in 2014, as as thirty year old adult, I was well versed in the knowledge of police tactics, and the deep racism that emanates from the souls of many officers of the law. 

  You may well have thought after the live footage of Eric Garner's execution that police stations all over the country would take precautions and improve officers training so these incidents wouldn't continue. Instead of doing so, the murdering of innocent African American civilians by cops continued at a feverish pace. Many of you remember the names: Walter Scott, Philando Castile, Michael Brown, Akai Gurley, and the list goes on and on ( info courtesy of missourian.com). The outrage was leading to riots in some US cities, most notably, Ferguson, Missouri, Minneapolis, Minnesota and Portland, Oregon to name a few ( google.com). Rightfully so, not just African Americans, but the majority of young people in general had had enough of having to bear witness to the murders of innocents on the evening news and no one paying any consequences for their actions. In the rare case an officer did get charged with something it was always to little to late, until we had to see what officer, Derek Chauvin did to George Floyd, which may have changed everything.

   The date was, May 25, 2020, the place, Minneapolis, Minnesota, a routine police stop of a vehicle because the man inside, George Floyd had been accused of passing a counterfeit 20 dollar bill (nytimes.com). This incredibly minor offense would lead to the most infamous and downright unwatchable police killing in the history of video footage. The officer at the time, Derek Chauvin, as the film starts had already, with help from his cowardly co workers, forced Floyd to the ground and went on to lay his knee on Floyd's throat, as Mr. Floyd lay helplessly handcuffed on the pavement. This knee across the neck visual lasted for 9 minutes (apnews.com), as horrified onlookers pleaded with Chauvin and his backup to allow Mr. Floyd the air he desperately needed to survive. With a heinous look of arrogance on his face, Chauvin stared out into the crowd of people as if he was enjoying snuffing out a mans life while now angry onlookers shouted at him to get off the victim. When he finally did Floyd lay breathless on the ground and was pronounced dead shorty thereafter.

  The backlash from this egregious incident went on for the next 10 months. George Floyd's portrait became the face of the Black Lives Matter movement, calls for Chauvin to be brought up on murder charges were loud and clear across every major city in the United States. Despite predictable indifference from Trumps white house, besides some ridiculously strange photo op during raucous protest in Washington DC, which included a war secretary dressed in army fatigues and a deranged president hoisting a bible. Trumps nonsensical actions only fired up the movement more as they called on the police to be defunded among many other demands. This incident had a domino effect on the racist traditions we have in the United States including: Army bases named for Confederate Generals, statues of slave owners and the many places in the US named after blatant racists. Of course things never change fast enough especially when it involves wiping these prejudice traditions from our society, but a few positive steps were coming.

   The trial of Derek Chauvin trial lasted from March 29, 2021 until the verdict was read on April 20th (dates courtesy of usatoday.com) and he was found guilty! Finally a white police officer has been brought to justice for killing an unarmed black man. The jury deliberated for well over a day and half before coming to the correct consensus which found him guilty on all charges (nytimes.com). It was not only a win for the prosecution, or black lives matter, or even the bereaved Floyd family, this was a victory for mankind. It finally showed officers everywhere that they will not get away with cold blooded murder any longer simply for wearing a policeman's uniform. 

  The question of is this an anomaly or a big step towards ending police brutality, or at least mass police killings of African Americans remains to be seen? It's certainly a rhetorical question which we'll have to wait and see the long term results. One can't deny it's a positive step in the right direction, it helps the Floyd family receive some justice and it takes a killer like Derek Chauvin off the streets and puts him behind bars where he belongs. We can only hope this wasn't just for fears of violent backlash had he been found not guilty but that the evidence so obviously concluded that Chauvin was a second degree murderer. Rest in Peace George Floyd and all other victims of of police violence or any violence in general, One Love.