George Floyd's death has provoked outrage nationwide and around the world

This past Monday, the 25th of May, the crude reality of racial discrimination once more reared its ugly head with the death of George Floyd while being arrested by Minneapolis Police. The Police were called due to an alleged attempt of a Black man paying with a counterfeit bill. The police were pointed in the direction of a black SUV in which said individual was simply stationed. The person turned out to be George Floyd. Soon after police officers brought him out of the SUV and placed him in handcuffs, without any resistance. Video from the building adjacent the scene corroborates and shows Floyd cooperating as he is escorted to a nearby wall, where is then forced on the floor.

Police then escort the handcuffed Floyd to a police SUV across the street where he is later videotaped on the floor face-first under the knee of police officer Derek Chauvin. The viral video footage was taken by Darnella Frazier, a standby observer who used her cellphone to videotape the scene, which lasted nearly ten minutes. In the video we can clearly see a subdued Floyd grasping for air and pleading to the PO Chauvin, “I can’t breathe! Please relieve my neck! I can’t breathe shit!” A few seconds later he loses consciousness after exclaiming, “My knee… my neck… I’m through.” The onlookers seeing Floyd’s desperation and hearing his pleas try to intercede by telling the police officers that he is bleeding from his nose but it would be to no avail. George would later be pronounced dead at the hospital.

This unwarranted death of a restrained George Floyd is just the latest episode of a Black person falling victim to police brutality and the systemic racism in the United States. This comes months after the death of Ahmaud Arbery at the hands of a white ex-police officer and his son in Georgia, Breonna Taylor in Kentucky, police brutality on Derek Gray and his mother Marvia in Missouri and years later after the fatal shooting of Philando Castile in the exact same state of Minnesota in 2016. The public outrage has poured over into civil unrest as the police officers had only been fired Tuesday and PO Chauvin had not been arrested or brought up on charges, instead his house had been guarded by 75 police officers.

Fire and Fury in Minneapolis

Minneapolis has experienced three days of civil unrest that have gone from passive protests to looting in the night hours. Last night it reached the fever pitch to which some of the protesters entered the 3rd Police Precinct and set it on fire. For the last two nights the pitch black skies of Minneapolis have been lit by the orange glow of fires deliberately set demonstrating the fury of years of frustration and injustice.  

This civil unrest in Minneapolis called for the arrest of the police officers who murdered Floyd, partially gained through the formal arrest of ex-police officer Chauvin who has been charged with 3rd degree murder as of this afternoon. The demonstrations were not just limited to Minnesota as there were protests in Utah, Denver and New York where there were 72 arrests.

Arrest of Omar Jiménez shows systemic racism in Minneapolis’ police 

Last night’s events also helped further amplify the systematic racism that persists within the police in Minnesota. As the state patrol were disbursing the crowds at dawn, Omar Jiménez was transmitting Live for CNN. As the cameras were rolling, a protestor is seen running into the shot at which point the police apprehend the protester. Right after the police approaches Jiménez and his crew. Jiménez respectfully asks where they would like them to move as to not be in the way, identifying himself as a reporter. Nonetheless, he was then told he was under arrest without being given a reason as to why, even after asking respectfully. Jiménez and his crew were all arrested and taken to the local precinct. They were later released after an apology from Governor Walz and their credentials verified.

It is interesting—and shows the racial disparities—that Jiménez, who is the son of an African-American mother and Colombian father, was arrested while, on the other hand, fellow CNN correspondent Josh Campbell who is white was not. Campbell was a few blocks away and the police approached him as well but was cleared right away after identifying himself. It is appalling that this was done by the same police department that is under scrutiny for having a racial discrimination. This tension is not new; the difference is that it is now much more visible as it is being videotaped. It is the reality of living life while being Black or Brown in the United States of America even after four hundred years of struggle.