Last week the jury did the logical and correct thing and convicted police officer Derek Chauvin on manslaughter and murder in the killing of George Floyd. Many people wept tears of positive emotion and celebrated. However, there were some cautionary statements.
“A measure of justice is not the same as equal justice,” said Vice President Kamala Harris.
“Justice would mean George Floyd would still be alive today,” said Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison.
“Justice means Dante Wright would still be alive,” said George Floyd’s brother.
Justice would also mean police departments will stop lying about the situations of police killings of black civilians, especially black citizens.
The original police statement read: “Two officers arrived and located the suspect, a male believed to be in his 40s, in his car. He was ordered to step from his car. After he got out, he physically resisted officers. Officers were able to get the suspect into handcuffs and noted he appeared to be suffering medical distress. Officers called for an ambulance. He was transported to Hennepin County Medical Center by ambulance, where he died a short time later. At no time were weapons of any type used by anyone involved in this incident.”
Darnella Frazier, the then 17-year-old who recorded the murder on her cell phone, is heralded for her role in bringing the truth to public view. Considering the police department’s press release, it is unlikely Chauvin would have been prosecuted without her video.
As much of the country was congratulating itself for that verdict, we were reminded that during the trial, police killed 13-year-old Adam Toledo in Chicago, 16-year-old Ma’khia Bryant in Columbus, Ohio, and 20-year-old Daunte Wright less than 10 miles from the courthouse holding the Chauvin trial. And within 24 hours of Chauvin’s guilty verdict, police killed another black person, Andrew Brown Jr., in Elizabeth City, N.C. The circumstances in each of these cases are different, but cops shot and killed young black persons seemingly without hesitation in each instance.
And indeed, other less publicized killings of blacks occurred during the trial, as a black person is killed no less than one every two days. The minimal number of Blacks killed by police between January 1 and April 18 of this year was 54, with the race of 67 of those killed not determined by the researchers. Less than two-thirds of those killed were determined to be armed.
Police violence is a leading cause of death for young men in the United States. Over the life course, about 1 in every 1,000 black men can expect to be killed by police.
Undoubtedly, the attitudes of white America are a significant factor in the failure to prosecute police officers for killing unarmed black persons. Before the trial verdict, a poll by USA Today and Ipsos found that 64 percent of Black people surveyed considered Floyd’s death a murder, while only 28 percent of white people believed the same. If they do not think Chauvin’s death was a murder we all witnessed on Frazier’s video, how can they convict? Thus, Chauvin’s guilty verdict was an exception.
The county prosecutor showed the hesitancy of authorities to prosecute police for murder. Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman initially charged Chauvin with the lesser charges of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, but the governor assigned the case to the Minnesota Attorney General, Keith Ellison, who upped the charges adding the more serious second-degree murder charge against Chauvin.
And finally, we are back to the Justice Department invoking its patterns and practices authority. Attorney General Jeff Sessions dismissed 25 such investigations set up by Eric Holder, Attorney General in the Obama administration.
Attorney General Merrick Garland announced recently that the Justice Department had launched an investigation into the practices of the Minneapolis Police Department. They are looking at possible practices of racism and use of excessive force and uses of force against individuals engaged in activities protected by the First Amendment.
Such approaches to systemic racism are the only potentially successful ways to get to justice.
