BLACK The world was once again stunned by insensitivity and inhumanity when an individual, George Floyd was suffocated to death by a policeman in Minnesota, United States on Monday, 25th May. Thousands of Americans have taken to streets for protests against the crime against black lives in America. The 44-year-old policeman has been charged with murder.
But that is not enough and has not appeased the threatened black population of America who have bore the brunt of racism and violence since ages. According to reports, around 1400
individuals have been arrested in more than 17 cities BLACK in the United States for being a part of a protest against unfair violence towards George Floyd who represents the entire black community at this time. The 46-year-old, African American man was a native of Houston, Texas who had been living in Minneapolis, Minnesota for 6 years. A bouncer in a club, he was rendered jobless like thousand others during the ongoing pandemic.
The entire series of events that led to his death took place in 30 minutes. He went to the local grocery store, Cup Foods for a pack of cigarettes and paid $20. The teenage employee of the shop owner Mike Abumayalleh, reported George Floyd because the bill he paid for cigarettes seemed counterfeited, out of protocol. Around 8 at night he was confronted by policemen. He was pulled out of the BLACK car and handcuffed. When he was being pushed inside the police car,
he put up a struggle and informed the policemen that he is claustrophobic. One of the cops, Derek Chauvin, according to the video recorded, pushed him to the ground and pinned his neck
down with his knees for 8 minutes. He initially explained his claustrophobia and begged for his life. He exclaimed he couldn’t breathe. No heed was paid to his plead and he was pinned down till he stopped moving. He allegedly stopped responding after 6 minutes of struggle. Even after he stopped moving, the accused policeman continued to pin him down. The bystanders pleaded the cops to check his pulse and even when one policeman couldn’t find his pulse Derek Chauvin BLACK didn’t stop kneeling on George’s neck. He was rushed to Hennepin County Medical Center where he was declared dead after an hour.
This incident has evoked shock, disgust, and horror throughout the world and given to several protests. The protests have even turned violent in places, despite lockdown. There has been huge uproar against the incident in social media and many popular figures have expressed their concern and sorrow. His close BLACK friend, Christopher Harris denied allegations of forgery on George.
He said, “The way he died was senseless. He begged for his life. He pleaded for his life. When you try so hard to put faith in this system, a system that you know isn’t designed for you,
when you constantly seek justice by lawful means and you can’t get it, you begin to take the law into your own hands.”
The incident is deeply shameful and brings to light the racism that people have been inflicted to since ages and makes us question humanity BLACK once again during the pandemic when morale is
already down throughout the world.
