Reflections on the George Floyd Murder Trial and its implications

by Suran

The sentencing of Derek Chauvin convicted of the murder of George Floyd was finalised last week, when the law enforcement officer of the Minneapolis Police Department, received a jail sentence of 22 years and six months. For the African American community of the United States, this was a historic moment.

That George Floyd was murdered by the Minneapolis Law Enforcement Officers was beyond doubt from the start. It was beyond doubt, not because of the footage of the body cameras worn by the Police, but because of a 17-year-old girl who witnessed this appalling act and decided to capture it on her mobile phone. She did not stop filming and persevered with her traumatic eye witness documentation through her camera.

It was this footage on a mobile phone, which clearly showed Chauvin’s knee on top of George Floyd’s neck for nine minutes and 29 seconds. This proved beyond any reasonable doubt that Chauvin’s actions caused the death of George Floyd. Chauvin continued to kneel on Floyd’s neck for a further three and a half minutes even after Floyd stopped breathing and another police officer declared that there was no pulse. After the ambulance arrived, Chauvin continued to kneel on Floyd’s neck and had to be pushed away by the paramedics, before he relented.

At the trial, expert medical evidence clearly indicated that the cause of death was asphyxia caused by the actions of the three police officers, in pushing a handcuffed man on to a pavement and then pressing him down from the neck, the shoulders, the thighs and feet, while at the same time pushing his handcuffed hands further up his back until his lungs could function no more.

The Defence Attorney, Eric Nelson, made a vain, repetitive and long-winded attempt over many hours, to confuse the issue and bring in irrelevant information such as Floyd’s enlarged heart, to try to bamboozle the jury.

In his final address and rebuttal to the jury, the Prosecuting Counsel, Jerry Blackwell made everything crystal clear and presented a summary of the facts. He ended his brilliant presentation with the words “George Floyd did not die because he had a large heart, he died because Derek Chauvin had a small heart!”

After several days of deliberations, the jury gave a unanimous verdict. They found Chauvin guilty on all three counts of second-degree murder, manslaughter and grievous bodily harm leading to death.

This was a test case for the United States of America, as countless numbers of African Americans have died due to the brutality of the Police, inflicted on unarmed black persons, often apprehended on trivial charges such as traffic offences. In the case of George Floyd, the offence was the use of a counterfeit $20 note, at a convenience store. According to US law, this charge does not warrant arrest. Therefore, even the act of handcuffing George Floyd was not warranted.

The murder of George Floyd brought an unprecedented outcry and led to the “Black Lives Matter” protest marches all over the world, including the UK. In the UK the unwarranted arrests of black youth have gone largely unreported. Subsequent to George Floyd’s murder, similar cases of police killings of unarmed black persons have occurred in the United States, including in Minneapolis itself.

From his grave, George Floyd has tested the might of the United States which has lost all moral credibility of being regarded as the “leader of the free world”. It is now up to the law makers of the USA to rectify their system of policing, control the use of fire-arms, and build their moral credibility.

One simple but important act in this regard is for the US Government to apologise to all the black people for the brutality and indignity of slavery and crimes against humanity and for the discrimination and abuse they have suffered, even after the abolition of slavery. Apologies and sincere acts of atonement are also required for the unbelievable atrocities committed against the indigenous communities of America.

To reclaim global credibility in terms of moral authority, it is important that an apology is also extended to Japan for the dropping of two atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the killing of an estimated 350,000 innocent civilians within a space of a few minutes and maiming and causing life-long, even generations long, injuries, deformities and disabilities on countless others.

It is important not to forget the civilians killed in Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria. They were dismissed simply as “collateral damage” and not given a second thought. The clandestine operations and assassinations carried out elsewhere, plus the plight of the detainees of Guantanamo need to be included. The US has justified its action with the blanket phrase that all this has been done in the name of freedom and that they will never fail to deploy their military might to protect US citizens. In the case of George Floyd who was a US citizen, born and bred in that country whose freedom are they protecting?

Although sentence has been passed on Derek Chauvin, we are yet to see specific action against the other police officers who aided and abetted and who themselves participated actively in the horrific murder of George Floyd.

Whatever the specific charges and sentences are meted out in those cases, it is important to note that this was not a one-off case of police brutality. It was but one in hundreds if not thousands of incidents of police brutality against black people in the whole of the United States over generations. The perpetrators of most of those crimes have not been brought to justice, as details have not been properly recorded. In fact, even the police records of the Floyd case, which were read out in court, did not refer to the excessive use of force. The US police records in this case gave the impression of a system, which has been perfectly tuned to promote impunity and the obfuscation of facts.

When the US is quick to point fingers at other countries for their poor record of Human Rights, it is high time that they put their own house in order. To the outside observer the US is relentless in throwing stones at others, while living in a glass house, right next to Guantanamo Bay!

It is imperative that action is taken to address systemic and ingrained discrimination that has been a hallmark of policing in USA. No doubt there are large numbers of policemen and women who are ethical and upright and who do not subscribe to discrimination. The Chief of the Minneapolis Police Department and others who testified against Derek Chauvin stood up for moral integrity and justice. However, it is obvious that the system of impunity that seems to prevail, has attracted persons into the police force, of a similar mind-set as Derek Chauvin, who could be even Ku Klux Klan members and sympathisers.

A root and branch overhaul of the entire police system is called for. Whether Joe Biden is up to the task is yet to be seen. Is the legislative arm of government [Congress and the Senate] ready to face reality and correct an egregious injustice that has gone on for too long?

The verdict on the United States will be decided by the jury of world public opinion. It will be decided, when the Human Rights of at least, the American black people are protected. This would be a first. Then comes the next but more daunting task of making good on the concern for the Human Rights of others such as the civilian victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan etc, who have perished at the hands of the “leader of the free world”.

A Global View