Decent, law-abiding, poor black people in America will suffer because of the manner in which the guilty verdict for white policeman Derek Chauvin was reached in the case arising from the death of George Floyd, a black criminal, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The disgusting speech of President Biden, a weak and dishonest man, will ensure that the inner cities where poor blacks live become more dangerous. Black Lives Matter (BLM) has shown again that it cares nothing for black lives.
George Floyd (6 foot 6 inches, 223 lb) had before been imprisoned for robbery and drug-taking. Previously, he and four other black men had broken into the house of a black woman, put a gun to her stomach, and demanded money and drugs.
On 25 May 2020, a black shop assistant phoned the police because he suspected Floyd had used counterfeit money in the shop. Chauvin and another policeman arrived in a police car and arrested Floyd outside. He seemed unsteady. Another two policemen arrived in another car. He resisted as they put him into a police car. In the car, he said, ‘I can’t breathe’ and asked to be taken out. The police did so. One of them, Derek Chauvin (5 foot 9 inches, 140 lb), used an approved restraining hold by pressing him to the ground and kneeling on him. Floyd repeated ‘I can’t breathe’. Bystanders pleaded with Chauvin to release Floyd, who they said was helpless and distressed. But Chauvin continued to hold him down for nine minutes. Floyd died. BLM then unleashed ‘protests’ around America but especially in the inner-city areas where poor black people live.
The ‘protests’ included rioting, looting, burning and killing, with BLM thugs bringing terror to black neighbourhoods. A black policeman, David Dorn, was shot dead during the looting. The murder rate in the US has increased dramatically in the last year, perhaps allied to these protests (or perhaps to Covid-19 or to both). BLM cheered on the destruction. Democrat local authorities did little to stop it. Democrat politicians asked to ‘defund the police’.
Asphyxia
Derek Chauvin was charged with manslaughter (reckless behaviour that results in death) and second- and third-degree murder (wilful behaviour that risks causing death). The trial began on 8 March 2021. Medical experts said that Floyd’s body at his death contained three times the lethal dose of fentanyl, a drug that can cause asphyxia. That could explain why Floyd said ‘I can’t breathe’ while upright in the car.
The defence told how the police had complied with Floyd’s requests, including to be taken out of the car.
However, it seems that what happened outside the court was more important than what happened inside. BLM demonstrators demanded Chauvin be found guilty and warned there would be hell to pay if he wasn’t. A Democrat Congresswoman, Maxine Waters, warned that if Chauvin wasn’t found guilty, she would urge the mob to get ‘confrontational’ and that ‘we’ve got to (make sure they) know we mean business’. America does know. America has seen the destruction caused by the BLM mob. Nancy Pelosi, the Democrat House Speaker, supported Waters.
The jury was threatened: if you don’t find Chauvin guilty, you’ll have blood on your hands. The mob became more important than the evidence. On 20 April 2021, the jury hastily found Chauvin guilty on all three counts. On the evidence I saw, guilty of manslaughter seems reasonable but guilty of murder seems unreasonable. But, if I’d been in that jury, I’d also have been scared of the mob.
Shortly after the verdict, President Biden, who has been part of the American political establishment for 49 years, made possibly the most sickeningly dishonest and immoral speech I have ever heard.
Putting on his pious face, he said that the Chauvin case showed the ‘systemic racism that is a stain on our nation’s soul’. You liar! The Chauvin trial showed nothing of the kind. From beginning to end, from prosecution to defence, from the judge to the witnesses, nobody brought up race, nobody accused Chauvin of racism and nobody suggested any ‘systemic racism’ in the American police service in the 21st Century.
Profound problems
It is true that crime in America is higher in black neighbourhoods than those of any other race. It is true that a disproportionate percentage of young black men are in prison. Above all, it is true that more black children are brought up without fathers than in any other race group. These are profound problems that need investigating.
But it is not true that the police kill more unarmed black suspects than unarmed white suspects. The number of black people killed by white policemen is miniscule compared with the number of black people killed by young black men. All the evidence shows that the more police you have in a neighbourhood, the fewer the murders.
Those who want to ‘defund the police’ want more black people to be murdered. A survey showed that 81% of black Americans wanted either the same number of police or more police.
The leader of BLM is Patrisse Khan-Cullors. She has made a fortune through BLM. Recently she bought a R20 million house in a posh area of Los Angeles, where almost all her neighbours are rich and white, far, far away from the poor black people in the inner cities.
[Image: James Eades on Unsplash]
The views of the writer are not necessarily the views of the Daily Friend or the IRR
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