George Floyd Verdict
Dear Editor,
I am not a lawyer. However, like you, I have been forced to be a juror in the court of public opinion by biased actors in a case of international importance. I have tried to remain objective. This wasn’t easy. Biased media was manipulative. I recommend everyone watch recently released police body cam videos. They answer many questions. They also pose other important questions.
The video demonstrates that several factors from many individuals contributed to George Floyd’s death. Actions of the police, Mr. Floyd, bystanders and EMT’s increased likelihood of this horrific result. This was not as simple of a case as the original video and biased reporting claimed. However, in the end, Officer Chauvin made one serious error. He failed to followup when a trainee notified him of an absent pulse. If Officer Chauvin didn’t trust the trainee’s competence, he should have either checked the pulse himself or began chest compressions immediately.
I agree with a guilty verdict. However, the framing has been manipulated to advance political agendas. In reality, an innocent verdict wouldn’t prove the country is racist or not racist. A guilty verdict also wouldn’t prove the country is racist or not racist. Biased politicians and media would have used either verdict as proof of “systemic racism.” If found not guilty, biased actors would claim the verdict proves the “system is broken” by racism, which must be corrected.
Since the officer was found guilty, we will now hear how the jury agreed that this was a racist act that must be corrected. There has been no indication race was a factor in this case. Deciding guilt or innocence of any individual based on any race, ignoring evidence is, by definition, racist. That includes the crime of being racist.
Nonbiased media would have equally reported deaths in police custody of all racial groups. However, we only see African-American deaths. Based on the numbers, media should have reported twice as many Caucasian deaths in police custody as the African-American deaths that were reported. Biased media is intentionally filtering coverage to manipulate public opinion. True lessons, from a systems perspective, will not be learned.
Alan Burke
“That includes the crime of being racist.”
If being racist were a crime, a very large number of black politicians would be in prison for it, and not a small number of white ones. We’d also have Leonard Pitts locked up for life!
Well said Mr. Burke! Just wanted to add what I will refer to as a summation of Media bias to quote a well known NBC reporter upon his receipt of a prestigious award in journalism. “fairness in reporting is overrated”. Apparently, truth is too.
The question of racism was not a factor in the trial. Certainly a great deal of media on the left promoted racism at the heart of Floyds death and the right biased media jumped through hoops to say racism had nothing to do with his death. The evidence was overwhelming that the officer was negligent and irresponsible in his actions. HIs own leadership testifying against him was certainly a major impact to the jury’s decision.
Was this officer biased in his treatment of Floyd due to racism? Racial Bias? Media wants that to be the case and it very well could have been. The officer choose not to testify and since it wasn’t an issue of the trial where only real facts are allowed…we will likely never really know. You can’t say it wasn’t racial bias any more factually than you can say it was due to the officers racial bias.
What is clear and evidenced by this and many other heinous wrongful deaths at the hands of police is that our process for training officers to deal with public needs significant improvement. If all we get out of this is more debate about racism, we will lose as both sides are clearly biased in their opinions with little wiggle room for compromise. What we need is real change in how policy engage with the public, how they use deadly force, how they manage mentally ill and drug addicted members of our society. Until that happens, I will continue to support any political voice calling for reform. Including BLM.
Being high and passing counterfeit bills is not a crime worthy of death. I don’t care what the situation is. For anyone to disregard that fact that a human being died for what is legally regarded as a misdemeanor, by the hands (sorry knee) of a thug cop is complacent to an obviously broken system of policing.
There’s ample evidence that Saint George died from a massive overdose of drugs and stupidity. He would probably have been dead within an hour if Chauvin had not even touched him.
There’s a jury that says that it is beyond a reasonable doubt that Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd. Law and order.
Black and White People Can Be Racist- People Only Focus on White People And That’s the Problem
Mr. Floyd should not have been abused, which caused his death. Chauvin was guilty!
This case was clear. We should wait for his sentencing!
In the future, people, regardless of race or gender, should obey the rules of law! Resisting arrest is a crime!