Has America Seen A Shift Since The Death Of George Floyd?
The past year has seen a number of cultural, political and social shifts, as the death of George Floyd woke many people up to the way in which injustice is not some past notion, native to the Jim Crow era. We discuss some of the changes that have taken place in the U.S. since!
A mural of George Floyd in Los Angeles. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
By: Cory Utsey
May 25 marked one year since George Floyd’s life was stolen by ex-officer Derek Chauvin.
Many people throughout the country honored his life by way of memorial events and marches, as members of Floyd’s family met up with the president, vice president and other lawmakers.
George Floyd family speaks after his death
The past year has seen a number of cultural, political and social shifts, as the death of George Floyd woke many people up to the way in which injustice is not some past notion, native to the Jim Crow era-- it has a strong, invasive presence in the modern world.
Much has changed, and much has remained the same, but below we will discuss some of the things that have taken place in the United States since May 25 of 2020.
1. Derek Chauvin was convicted of murder.
Chauvin’s case, which lasted almost one full month, resulted in him being found guilty of the following three charges: second-degree manslaughter, second-degree unintentional murder and third-degree murder. The charges collectively add up to approximately 75 years in prison, with the second-degree murder charge holding a maximum of 40 years alone. The other three former officers who were present at the scene (J. Alexander Kueng, Tou Thao and Thomas Lane) were brought up on federal charges and are still awaiting trial.
2. Congress passed the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.
This bill was initially set to reach President Biden’s desk by the one-year mark of George Floyd’s death, and that date has now passed. Nevertheless, the bill was introduced by Representative Karen Bass last June and it was passed by Congress that same month. It ultimately addresses a number of policies that relate to police reform and accountability, such as the creation of the National Police Misconduct Registry, which would collect data on police misconduct and require updated reporting requirements. Skeptics of the bill believe that it is well-intended, yet are unsure if it would actually be implemented in a manner that brings about true, tangible change.
3. “Defund” and “abolish” are now a part of many people’s vocabulary.
Police brutality, along with the idea that the police need to be defunded or abolished are nothing new; Black activists have long covered these sorts of topics. However, the death of Geroge Floyd, along with many other police-involved deaths that have taken place, have caused many to question the function, competency and “reformability” of a police system that has long abused Black and brown people. The phrases “Defund The Police” and “Abolish The Police” were often chanted and written across poster boards during the protests that took place last summer. Although the idea of defunding or abolishing the police is quite controversial, many have proposed that much of the money used to fund police departments would be better used if it were reallocated to address other issues, such as mental health.
4. Everyone wants to appear “woke”.
Companies and people alike are now doing more to appear “woke”, meaning that they want to appear as though they are concerned with social justice and racism. “Black Lives Matter” now sits in the bios of various influencers. Companies continuously release commercials that address racism. Even in animated television, non-Black voice actors have stepped down from their roles of voicing Black characters. Many people cite these changes as performative, but they have become quite common nevertheless.
For many people, a lot of the social, political and cultural shifts seen in the United States have been ingenuine; many feel as though different sectors of society have adapted the belief that “Black Lives Matter” as a way of avoiding cancellation, as a way of pandering to the Black community, or as a mixture of both.
Even so, it is undeniable that the death of George Floyd has changed the way that many people view race and race relations in the United States, as these tensions and injustices have long existed. But it is also undeniable that it should not take the loss of someone’s life for people to be willing to listen.
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Daunte Wright And George Floyd Were Connected and Both Deserved Better
Two men, two fathers, two human beings whose lives were stolen in a similar manner, shared a common connection. George Floyd and Daunte Wright deserved better! We discuss it here!
By: Cory Utsey
Sunday, April 11 marked the end of another Black man’s life.
Daunte Wright was murdered by ex-officer Kim Potter, who is now being charged with second-degree manslaughter, during a traffic stop after she allegedly mistook her taser for her gun. He was only 20 years old.
This senseless act, which took place in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, is less than 15 miles from where George Floyd was murdered in May of 2020, but the interconnected nature of these two men extends past location and even past police brutality.
George Floyd’s girlfriend Courteney Ross was a former teacher of Daunte Wright.
Two men, two fathers, two human beings whose lives were stolen in a similar manner, one of which took place amidst the trial against the murderer of the other.
The connection between Floyd and Wright is eerily reminiscent of the ties between US Army 2nd Lt. Caron Nazario-- who was pepper sprayed and thrown to the ground by two Virginia police officers in December-- and his uncle Eric Garner, who was killed by police in 2014.
Even further back in time lies the connection of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Black boy who was lynched in 1955 Mississippi, and Fred Hampton, a prominent figure of the Black Panther party who was killed by the FBI in 1969 at the age of 21. Hampton’s mother babysat Till in his adolescence.
Nevertheless, the lives of Black people remain intertwined in violence and trauma that is inflicted by racist police, and reinforced by a system that values property more than Black lives. In the wake of Wright’s death, protestors have been met with curfews and the presence of the Minnesota National Guard; this response is much different than that of the storming of the Capitol, for instance, where actual agitators were given much more leeway.
The fact of the matter is, Daunte Wright deserved better.
He was ultimately stopped because of expired license plates and for hanging an air freshener in his mirror. However, even if he was doing something “wrong”, guilt should not breed a death sentence.
George Floyd deserved better. It should not matter whether or not he potentially ingested carbon monoxide, or even if he had drugs in his system-- no one should have their neck knelt on for over eight minutes.
Emmett Till deserved better. Breonna Taylor deserved better.
Adam Toledo, the 13-year-old boy who was shot and killed by Chicago police in late March, deserved better, and so do the many others whose lives have been stolen.
Police brutality, gun violence, and the overall abuse of power should not be normalized, neither should negligent justice be expected.
The value of Black lives should not have to be reiterated time and time again--the state of “matter” should be the minimum. And this cycle of trauma and death should not have to continue.
Change is not an option, it is a necessity.
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Stop Asian Hate: Support a Cause Without Degrading Another
With recent hate crimes against the Asian community rising, awareness on the situation is definitely needed. But why are Black people being used as a compare and contrast option to bring awareness to the Anti-Asian hate crime movement? We discuss it here!
By: Kwana Adams
There has been a lot of Anti-Asian hate crimes happening all over the world. It’s been a thing since the pandemic started over a year ago, but it has gotten significantly worse over the recent months.
Recently, there was a mass shooting in Georgia that took the life of six out of 8 women of Asian descent. Although the gunman himself claimed the crime was not racially motivated, it’s hard to believe, seeing as though all the victims were of Asian descent and mostly women.
Older people of Asian descent have been the biggest victims of Anti-Asian hate crimes lately too, and it’s hard to ignore or deny the fact that Asian people are being targeted. This is a topic that deserves a lot more attention than it’s getting and people are trying to raise awareness.
However, I’ve noticed something off about the way some people are bringing awareness to this issue…Why is it that people are degrading the Black Lives Matter movement to uplift the Anti-Asian hate crime movement? You know these two issues can co-exist right? And each movement is equally as important. There have been numerous Tik Toks and tweets saying things along the lines of, “Y’all were loud for BLM so why aren’t you being loud for this?” or when a black person commits a crime against an Asian person, here come the “But BLM right?” comments.
I want to see how passionately people (incl other POC) will stand up for Asians. Those of you who were so vocal w BLM, where are you on the 1900% increase in Asian-directed hate crimes? The violence that has taken many lives (yet we rarely see those stories covered in the media)
— Laura Huang (@LauraHuangLA) February 11, 2021
My question is, why does BLM need to be brought up at all? Why can’t one issue be brought up without trying to degrade another? If people did their research, they would know that the movement didn’t happen overnight.
Black Lives Matter was created in 2012 by three black queer women, Alicia Garza, Opal Tometi, and Patrisse Cullors. Regardless of what it’s become today, it originally began as a response to Trayvon Martin’s death and the injustice that followed it. It’s grown tremendously since 2012 and that is mostly due to the backlash that it’s received from people who don’t understand what it is.
It started off as a response to police brutality and how the police treat our black bodies. From there, it just grew and grew. Black people have been abused and ignored for so long, that no one could have anticipated this growing as big as it did. Making comments like “But BLM right,” is just anti-black and has no place in these conversations.
Right girlie. pic.twitter.com/oY28QvrR7F
— Johnny (@garontherun) March 18, 2021
The point I’m trying to make is, it can take time for people to catch wind of important issues. It has nothing to do with people thinking one issue is more important than other. You don’t need to degrade and disrespect one movement to uplift another. And if you’re only bringing up the Anti-Asian hate crime movement, only to bring down the BLM movement, do you even care about that movement, or are you just trying to spew hate?
The other reason the BLM movement was so popular was because black people not only created it, but they refused to let it die. Every single time an injustice was done to a black person, the community rose up. They were in the streets protesting, they were boycotting, they were on social media spreading awareness. All of that contributed to the popularity of BLM.
Creating a movement and making so much noise that people can’t even pretend not to hear you, is why BLM is not going anywhere. Michael Brown, Sandra Bland, Tamir Rice, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor… and hundreds more names. There’s a pattern here. There’s a reason we all know their names and it’s because we made sure no one would forget them.
Activists for the Black Lives Matter movement have been jailed, gone missing, or been killed for this movement. It’s so much bigger than people think it is. So when people try to downgrade it, they’re not only disrespecting the movement, but they’re also disrespecting the people who lost their lives behind it. A lot of pain, injustice, and loss went into making BLM as big as it is.
This may be a hard pill to swallow but the black community is not in charge of making all issues go viral. Stop trying to guilt people into joining a movement when you could be sharing information and raising awareness instead. Black Lives Matter or BLM is not some punchline or retort you can use when there is an issue that’s not getting enough media attention. The Anti-Asian hate crime movement deserves a lot more than that. It is an important issue that deserves a platform that’s not tied to someone else’s movement. Talk about it more.
Let people in your communities know about the hate crimes against the Asian population that’s been happening. Speak to your elected officials. Go out into the streets and protest to get their attention and the attention of the media. Most importantly, make your own movements.
“Y’all were loud for BLM, but quiet for this,” is not the way to get people involved. Please do better.
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2020, The Year Of Awakening And Re-Adjusting: Racial Tension, Protests, And A Pandemic
The start of 2020 brought excitement for a new decade, but ultimately brought unforeseen changes. A pandemic, and growing racial tensions have forced Americans to focus on bringing in a new “normal”.
Nick Cannon Speaking Out at a Protest For George Floyd - STAR TRIBUNE VIA GETTY IMAGES
By: James Teague
Everything that’s been happening so far isn’t a coincidence. When the new year started, everybody proclaimed that 2020 was going to be the year of clear vision as we closed a chapter of the last decade. But ever since the year started, it has been a chain of bizarre events that have occurred.
I know for me, everything started when we lost our NBA childhood hero Kobe “Bean” Bryant. It still doesn’t sit right with me that physically Black Mamba is no longer here with us. Next up, was the introduction of COVID-19, an unknown virus that suddenly spread worldwide causing a global pandemic. At first America didn't think too much about Coronavirus for it to really be a threat and took things lightly. But suddenly the number of people that came into contact with COVID increased, which then caused all of America to shut down and quarantine.
Everybody transitioned from working in their offices to working from home while other workers who still had to stay outside in the public due to their place of employment were deemed essential. These turn of events caused jobs to either place their employees on furlough or make major budget cuts by letting go of their employees. The unemployment rate was said to have been at 13.3 percent, but recently it was discovered that an error was made with the May numbers of unemployment and that it should be higher.
We sat back and witnessed the government give big corporations unchecked billions of dollars for bailout meanwhile Americans experiencing unemployment only received a one time $1200 stimulus check payment to cover for four months of quarantine. Not only was the stimulus check not enough to cover for all of the months of quarantine but some households still have yet to receive their money. Then as the curve for COVID-19 started to slowly flatten, Trump and his cronies all decided they wanted to prematurely open America back up while unemployment was still high and citizens were still in need of financial assistance. The government showed that they failed to act by not putting enough effort in assisting American in our time of need.
Tension is rising between Americans and the government. Citizens were getting frustrated watching the government lose focus on assisting those heavily impacted by COVID-19. The political parties were all too focused on saving their own asses by pointing fingers at each other while either have provided very little updates on a vaccine to battle against coronavirus. I started watching this thinking to myself like ”I really can’t believe that I'm watching this unveil in front of our eyes. It feels like this is nothing but a sick joke.” At first I thought to myself that “things just couldn't get any worse. But then I learned that death comes in 3’s.
It first started off with the death of Ahmad Arbery, who was killed by a racist father and son duo while he was jogging midway through a neighborhood in Brunswick, Georgia. Then next up, was Breonna Taylor who was murdered in her own home while in her sleep by the Louisville Metro Police Department. The final straw was the death of George Floyd as footage was released of Police officer Derek Chauvin with his hands in pockets acting nonchalant while his knees were to the back of George Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds.
To be Black in America and know that racism and police brutality can still happen to us even while in a Global Pandemic is just egregious. To get reminded that we’re not safe by either the coronavirus, the police department, and the government is insane. We’re really experiencing two pandemics and one of them has been continuous for the last 400 years even with the quote on quote “minor changes” in America.
So here we are again having to repeat again and go back outside to protest our right except this time this is occurring in the middle of a pandemic. But as I watched through social media how the protests around America started one by one, I started noticing how different the energy was this time around. When the protest first started, I saw how everybody was letting their frustrations out through the looting and destruction of Target and some of the high end stores in Phipps Plaza. But then afterwards, the protest started to become more focused and executed with a purpose.
Each protest was bigger than the last and we started gaining more allies. I started seeing more people who weren’t black were finally waking up and understanding what we’ve been trying to tell people for decades now about what we experience. And all it took was a Global Pandemic to shut down work, sports, entertainment, and vacations in order for people to sit down and really see what we were trying to tell them. And to top it off, we were starting to see some progress actually being made through the protests and riots such as the killers of Ahmaud Arbery finally getting arrested and charged for his murder.
Jamie Foxx Speaking At A Protest For George Floyd
Throughout my 29 years here living here I don’t think I’ve even seen anything like what’s been going with all of these events. Even comparing how the protests were this year compared to when Mike Brown died in Ferguson, there'’s been so much that’s been unveiled to us during this time. I don't know if this is just me but with everything that’s been revealed around us, it feels like we’re experiencing a reckoning. Police brutaliy, murder, civil unrest, protest, violence, racists, rapists, mysogynists all being exposed, old systems and beliefs dying out, and the plight of black women and black men is sums up 2020.. And all it took was for a global pandemic to shut life activities down and force those to sit down and watch.
This is the end of the “normal” life that we once used to know and now we’re being forced to re-adjust into this “new normal.” This awakening is not only happening in the world but it is also happening in our own personal lives. By the unveiling of these ugly truths about what’s going on in the world, the universe is really giving us a chance to look deep within ourselves to re-evaluate who we are, where we stand (mentally, spiritually, & morally), our goals, dreams, and decide where we want our lives to be during this decade.
We really have an opportunity to make necessary changes to improve the trajectory of our lives. We have a chance to get our spirits right and move with more purpose and urgency. I don't know about you but I'm seeing more people move more intentionally and with purpose on how to get the poor leadership in america to really pay attention to what we’re telling them.
Everybody has a story. We all have all been placed here in this world for a specific purpose and right now is the appropriate time to self reflect in order to figure out where to start your walk. Now even though there’s change going on around us we also need to keep in mind there's distractions all around us and they can come in many different forms. One form of a distraction can come from media propaganda like how they’ve either portrayed the protestors or how they’ve pushed the topic of COVID-19. Another form of distraction is paying attention to how the government is pushing to prematurely open all of America back up for the sake of the economy and putting out mixed information to deceive the viewer on what the numbers are for COVID 19.
Another source of distractions can be through social media if not used properly. With google around and people telling others to just “google,” there is a mass amount of false information on the internet that one can read and attempt to spread in an attempt to educate and its dangerous how quickly that information gets around. Add that in and mic it with certain trending topics and some may lose our focus and its ok. We’re humans and we’re going to get sidetracked from time to time. But we must stay tapped in before we’re able to become our higher selves.
I don’t know about y’all but I don’t want to go back to how life used to be especially now since we are living in the new revolution. We’re all starting to find our voices and speaking out for the voiceless. We have to constantly remember that this is a marathon and not a sprint. Change doesn't happen overnight and we have long ways to go. Truth be told, we’re probably not going to really see true progress until decades later when our children's grandchildren are in our shoes as young adults. But until then, we have a responsibility to find our roles in this revolution and dedicate ourselves to making the changes that we love to see not only in the world but in ourselves.
We can not only create a social reform in society but we can also get back focused on those life dreams we have and create the dream lives we want. So many of us got back refocused because of this pandemic and have been making progress in our goals, dreams, etc. We truly have the power in our hands to become the change we see in our vision. So make it count.
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Video Shows Minneapolis Police Killing George Floyd While Detained
George Floyd, a Minneapolis Black man, was killed by a police officer while being detained after being alleged for resisting arrest.
By: Omar Cook
It seems we hear this story time and time again, another Black man dead at the hands of the police. On Monday, George Floyd, 46, died after being suffocated by a Minneapolis police for nearly 10 minutes while being detained. Video of the incident showed an officer kneeling on Floyd’s neck causing him to lose breath and eventually pass away.
My heart is breaking, I’ve never sobbed this hard in my life. I hope the police officer gets what he deserves, I’m so angry.pic.twitter.com/3qFSVM8gy0#JusticeForGeorgeFloyd #BlackLivesMatter #GeorgeFloyd
— being black is not a crime (@calmyourtitsluv) May 29, 2020
Floyd was heard repeatedly screaming that he could not breathe but the officer persisted to keep his knee on his neck. 4 officers were involved in the incident and have since been fired. This comes soon after the video of Ahmaud Arbery was released showing his murder as he jogged through a neighborhood. Another incident in New York happened as a woman called the cops on a Black man giving a false accusation that he was assaulting her all because he asked her to put a leash on her dog.
A woman aka “Karen” calls the police to say an “African-American man is threatening my life” by asking her to leash her dog in Central Park in New York City: pic.twitter.com/hfDgDWhFrV
— Alex Salvi (@alexsalvinews) May 25, 2020
If it wasn’t for the video evidence of this man recording her admit she was going to lie and call the cops on him, this might be another incident where another Black was sent to jail because of an accusation, or worse. How many Black men are sitting behind bars because of false accusations and didn’t have the video evidence to support their case? These types of situations have the cost the lives of Black men since the beginning of America and yet in 2020, we’re still dealing with them.
What’s crazy is the officers have yet to be charged with murder despite it being seen clearly on video. The officers claims of Floyd resisting arrest are also not supported in newly released footage showing what happened beforehand. Protests have broken out in Minneapolis over the last couple days and it seems they will continue until justice is served properly.
Every time a situation occurs like this, there seems to be a group of white people who will always say “All Lives Matter” or will bring up the issue of black on black crime. Every race has crime issues, now how does that justify an unarmed black man being killed while being detained and not resisting arrest? These are the times when the true racists show their true colors. There is a definite need for change regarding how law enforcement deals with people of color and its hundreds of years overdue.
Video Shows Minneapolis Police Killing George Floyd While Detained
