5 Years Later: George Floyd's Legacy

 

BY C STONE | STONE NEWS NETWORK

Source: BBC

For those that remember the horrific incident 5 years ago, when a young black man was held down by multiple police officers - with a knee to the neck. George Floyd was murdered in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 2020. Police officer Derek Chauvin was the person responsible for his death. 

Meanwhile in Minneapolis, the sad legacy of George Floyd was memorialized by a morning Church service, and a candlelight vigil and evening gospel concert for later tonight.

 

Floyd grew up in Houston, Texas - and that's where he is buried. Local organizations planned a poetry reading, and musical performances and speeches by local pastors.

We remember the horrible video showing a police officer kneeling on George's neck, crying out for his mother. Reverend Al Sharpton said on X:

Floyd's death had "forced a long overdue reckoning with systemic racism and galvanized millions to take to the streets in protest".

"The conviction of the officer responsible was a rare step toward justice, but our work is far from over," he said.

Systematic police misconduct was found when President Biden was in office. The justice department opened several investigations into local law enforcement agencies. 

From the BBC:

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, though, said this week that his city would still "comply with every sentence, of every paragraph, of the 169-page consent decree that we signed this year".

Since returning to office, Trump has also taken aim at Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DEI) measures intended to reduce racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination. Early in his tenure, Trump signed an executive order to eliminate DEI policies in the federal government, some of which were the result of protests during what is often called "Black Lives Matter Summer", held after the deaths of Floyd and others, Critics including Trump say such programmes can themselves be discriminatory. 

Addressing West Point on Saturday, he said that in ending DEI in the military the administration was "getting rid of the distractions" and "focusing our military on its core mission".

We hope there won't be another George Floyd incident anywhere in the world. The video of his passing is unwatchable; a man robbed of his dignity at the most vulnerable moment in his life.

Left to die.

America and the world is better than that.