Black and Asian Communities Unite in Outrage After Officers Murder Handcuffed George Floyd on Video
Minority communities were left outraged and heartbroken on Monday after a video of Minnesota police officers violently detaining and eventually killing African American man George Floyd went viral.
(Warning: The video below includes graphic and disturbing content.)
“I can’t breathe. My stomach hurt, my neck hurt, everything hurts,” Floyd said in the video.
What happened: The incident began around 8 p.m. on Monday when George Floyd was suspected of using counterfeit bills. A report was made at Cup Foods, 3759 Chicago Av., where he matched the profile. The Minneapolis police were responding to the report and noticed him by his car.
- “[They] ordered him out of the car and took him into custody,” police spokesperson John Elder said.
- DeVondre Pike, a local, saw the flashing police lights and started recording the aftermath, where Floyd was then pinned in an unauthorized knee-choke, while the officer ignored his pleas for help and that he couldn’t breathe.
- As a crowd gathered to yell for his release, another officer emerged to order them to the sidewalk.
- Eventually, Floyd became unconscious and unresponsive.
- At the end of the video, paramedics come to drag his body onto a gurney and into an awaiting ambulance.
- Floyd was pronounced dead soon after at Hennepin Healthcare, according to CBS Minnesota.
The aftermath: Since the incident, four officers of the Minneapolis Police Department have been fired and an investigation on a potential civil rights violation is being led by the FBI and Minnesota’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA), which investigates police shootings and in-custody deaths.
- The identities of all the officers involved have not been officially released, but the officer responsible for kneeling on Floyd’s neck has been identified as Officer Derek Chauvin, a 19-year veteran of the department, according to the Star Tribune.
- The officer who held the crowd back in the video as Chauvin slowly killed Floyd has been identified as Officer Tou Thao who has been with the department on a regular basis since 2012.
- Thao and another officer had previously been sued in 2017 for excessive use of force for punching a man in the head for resisting arrest on an outstanding warrant. The case was settled out of court for $25,000, the Star Tribune reports.
Who is taking action: Upon the officers’ firing, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey tweeted support for the decision. In earlier statements, Mayor Frey said that, “that race played a part in the encounter.”
Four responding MPD officers involved in the death of George Floyd have been terminated.
This is the right call.
— Mayor Jacob Frey (@MayorFrey) May 26, 2020
My remarks delivered earlier this morning and video below. https://t.co/qC2IgWdm1T pic.twitter.com/XWXhSygaCY
— Mayor Jacob Frey (@MayorFrey) May 26, 2020
Being black in America should not be a death sentence. For five minutes, we watched a white officer press his knee into a black man’s neck. Five minutes. When you hear someone calling for help, you’re supposed to help. This officer failed in the most basic, human sense. What happened on Chicago and 38th last night is awful. It was traumatic. It serves as a reminder of how far we have to go.
High-profile Attorney Benjamin Crump, known for representing the families of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, and Ahmaud Arbery issued a statement revealing he has been retained by Floyd’s family on Tuesday:
MEDIA ALERT: I have been retained to represent the family of George Floyd, the man killed by Minneapolis Police on May 25. #JusticeForFloyd #ICantBreathe pic.twitter.com/OkQeBwIlf1
— Benjamin Crump, Esq. (@AttorneyCrump) May 26, 2020
We all watched the horrific death of George Floyd on video as witnesses begged the police officer to take him into the police car and get off his neck,” Crump said in a statement. “This abusive, excessive and inhumane use of force cost the life of a man who was being detained by the police for questioning about a non-violent charge.
We will seek justice for the family of George Floyd, as we demand answers from the Minnesota Police Department,” he added. “How many ‘white black’ deaths will it take until the racial profiling and undervaluing of black lives by police finally ends?
Asian American response: In solidarity over the racially charged injustice felt by the Black community, outspoken members of the Asian American community took to Twitter to condemn the crimes of the officers and their roles in perpetuating the racism enabled by America’s systematic culture of white supremacy.
Any Asian person who’s talking about the harm done to our communities during Covid needs to call this out: #GeorgeFloyd was brutally murdered.
This man stood by and let his fellow cops do it. https://t.co/AOB5bbW89W
— Jeff Yang (@originalspin) May 26, 2020
Four cops fired over the murder of George Floyd. Apparently one of them may be Asian American.
Amy Cooper fired for threatening the life of Christian Cooper.
It’s a beginning, not an end, for some small measure of justice.https://t.co/L4G6bYie7M
— viet thanh nguyen (@viet_t_nguyen) May 26, 2020
Sitting with the fact that one of the cops complicit in the murder of #GeorgeFloyd is an Asian man.
Sitting with Asian American complicity in white supremacy systems and how we might begin to untangle decades of internalized model minority myth that continues to divide us.
— Michelle Kim (she/her) (@mjmichellekim) May 26, 2020
This image literally & metaphorically depicts how we Asians reinforce anti-Black racism & systemic white supremacy. #GeorgeFloyd pic.twitter.com/CV5C8G7dBr
— Hari Kondabolu (@harikondabolu) May 26, 2020
We must reckon with Asian American complicity in white supremacy. Some us try to do the work of building solidarity and fighting anti-Black racism, but many of us don’t.#Asians4BlackLives @Asians4BlkLives #GeorgeFloyd https://t.co/MwrD3aKEGO
— jason wu, esq. (@CriticalRace) May 26, 2020
Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin and his accomplice Tou Thao cruelly put George Floyd in a brutal chokehold until he died. He told them “I can’t breathe” and begged for his life until he was silent and motionless. Both police officers should be prosecuted for murder.
— Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) May 26, 2020
He probably has internal racism issues too. I could see it.
— Priscilla Phetsamone Warrior Writer Queen💚 💜👑 ! (@PriscillaPetra1) May 26, 2020
He looked straight at Floyd suffocating then looked away
— RightToWrite (@WriteISRight2) May 26, 2020
Hopefully these “consequences” will stick and become steeper, and that deeply institutionalized privilege won’t find a way of neutralizing these crimes through red tape and “heartfelt apologies”.
— Winston Chung (@dubcmd) May 26, 2020
It’s hard to articulate my feelings towards the murder of George Floyd. I’m angry they murdered him. I’m angry they won’t be punished. As an Asian-American, I’m angry one of the cops is Asian. Minorities gotta stick together. We can’t participate in bigotry against other POCs.
— rodge (@Rodge_FS) May 26, 2020
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