Society - MAHAMAG Magazine beyond boundaries

Enough, It is time for change

A black man in Minneapolis died after being handcuffed and pinned to the ground by law enforcement, which has led to the firing of four police officers. George Floyd, 46, died a week ago after a now-fired Minneapolis officer pressed his knee on Floyd's neck for 8 minutes, 46 seconds. His final words included "Mama" and "I can't breathe." A video of the incident shows two other officers helping to hold down Floyd, who was on his stomach and was handcuffed. Toward the end of the video, Floyd turns silent and is motionless as his head remains shoved against the pavement. Shortly after, he was pronounced dead at Hennepin County Medical Center. "George died because he needed a breath. He needed a breath of air," attorney Ben Crump said. Floyd died from "asphyxiation from sustained pressure" - a finding in the family-commissioned autopsy that is at odds with the medical examiner.

“They treated him worse than they treat animals,” Philonise Floyd, George’s brother said.

In response to Floyd’s death, hundreds of protesters poured into the streets on Tuesday. As they walked about 2 miles to a Minneapolis police precinct, they held signs such as “I can’t breathe” “I can’t breathe”

The black community is far too familiar with the police brutality that led to Floyd’s death; There is no shortage of stories about law enforcement killing black people who are often unarmed. Although they make up about 13 percent of the population, black people accounted for 23percent of the people killed by law enforcement in 2019.

Over the past seven years, there has been

growing attention paid to police brutality, due to several high-profile cases: Trayvon Martin,17, was unarmed when he was shot in 2013 after being reported as “suspicious” for simply visiting his dad’s fiancee, who lived in a gated community. In the wake of his death came Black Lives Matter, a movement against the systematic violence and discrimination against the black population. Protests continued as more black men continued to die at the hands of the police in 2014.

A month later, the death of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown sparked mass protests in Ferguson. And in November, 12-year-old Tamir Rice was playing with his toy pellet gun when he was shot dead seconds after officer Timothy Loehmann stepped out of his squad car.

Even in the past month, the black community has mourned the death of two people killed by both former and current law enforcement officials. In February, Ahmaud Arbery was chased and killed in Georgia by a former police detective and his son; it wasn’t until after a graphic video documenting the shooting went viral this month that the men were arrested. And in March, Breonne Taylor an EMT in Kentucky, was fatally shot in her own apartment by police officers for an investigation that she wasn’t even involved in. Like Arbery, her case didn’t gain national recognition until recently.

The countless deaths of black men and women is a form of “genocide”, according to Benjamin Crump — a civil rights lawyer who has taken on the cases of Martin, Brown, Rice, Arbery, and Taylor and will now represent Floyd’s family as well — and the killing of George Floyd

follows the same pattern of systematic racism.

Former President Barack Obama posted a statement on the wave of protests and police violence rocking the country, celebrating peaceful protesters and calling for fundamental reform of America’s police forces. It’s a perfectly fine statement by Obama’s standards: compelling, not extraordinary.

But comparing what he said to the angry tweets President Donald Trump is busy firing off reveals just how badly the White House’s current occupant is failing.

Obama’s first major point is that the protesters resorting to violence are a small group; the vast majority are peaceful protesters coming out to demonstrate against severe and ongoing injustice:

First, the waves of protests across the country represent a genuine and legitimate frustration over a decades-long failure to reform police practices and the broader criminal justice system in the United States. The overwhelming majority of participants have been peaceful, courageous, responsible, and inspiring. They deserve our respect and support, not condemnation.

African Union Commission chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat "strongly condemns the murder of George Floyd that occurred in the United States of America at the hands of law enforcement officers, and wishes to extend his deepest condolences to his family and loved ones." He further urged the authorities in the United States of America to intensify their efforts to ensure the total elimination of all forms of discrimination based on race or ethnic origin.

Some of the country’s most prominent black corporate leaders are weighing in publicly on the protests gripping the US, drawing from their own personal histories as they call for unity and seek to reassure employees. Jide Zeitlin, the CEO of Coach and Kate Spade owner Tapestry, wrote of his own personal experiences dating back to his early-20s in a posting on the LinkedIn website. He recalled flying to a racially divided South Africa after business school to advocate for disenfranchised black miners. Within a week of his arrival, he had his first contact with tear gas and rubber bullets. The lessons, he wrote, have lasted a lifetime.

“We can replace our windows and handbags, but we cannot bring back George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, Emmett Till, and too many others,” Zeitlin wrote. “Each of these black lives matter.”

Merck & Co.’s Ken Frazier said in an interview on CNBC that the protests were sparked by public officials’ delayed response to the killing of George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis on May 25.“What the African American community sees in that video tape, is that this African-American man, who could be me or any other African-American man, is being treated as less than human,” Frazier said, adding that it took four days for an arrest to be made.

“What the community saw, was -- until they went out into the streets -- this officer, much less the other officers, was not going to be arrested for what was clearly inhumane treatment of a citizen,” he said.

Lowe’s Cos. CEO Marvin Ellison wrote about growing up in the segregated South and the systemic oppression of the racial caste system his family was subjected to. He called for unity against racism and hate.

“I have a personal understanding of the fear and frustration that many of you are feeling,” Ellison wrote in a post on Twitter. “To overcome the challenges that we all face, we must use our voices and demand that ignorance and racism must come to an end.”

“At some point, the C-Level Suite is where you get to if you have certain experience and talents,” said Karen Boykin-Towns, vice chairman of the NAACP national board of directors and a senior counselor at public relations firm Sard Verbinnen & Co. “Not everyone can be CEO, for sure, but why is it that this crop of people, who consistently perform, aren’t given the opportunity.”

Lady Gaga, Hollywood actress commented We have known for a long time that President Trump has failed …We have known he is a fool and a racist since he took office…It is time for a change.

Lady Gaga