Black Live Matter Movement & Motivations
In a world full of hate, discrimination, and inequality, calls for change have begun once again during the ill-fated year of 2020. Thousands of protestors have taken to the streets across the country and around the world to spread awareness and fight for justice. Black Lives Matter protests began following the unjust murder of George Floyd by police.
In early May of this year, an African- American man named George Floyd was allegedly choked to death by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. Floyd was believed to have used a counterfeit twenty dollar bill to purchase a pack of cigarettes. A store clerk called the police for the alleged offense, and once they arrived, Floyd was asked to step away from his car, but refused. It was at this point that officers began using force to detain Floyd. Once in police custody, Floyd informed officers that he was under medical distress, at which point he was dragged out of a police car and thrown onto the concrete face first. Officer Derek Chauvin has been identified as the officer responsible for lodging his left knee on Floyd’s neck, despite Floyd not demonstrating any acts of resistance at this point.
Video evidence shows that Floyd repeatedly told officers that he was unable to breath while the incident was taking place. Floyd can be audibly heard pleading with officers to release him. George Floyd died facedown on the asphalt, as officer Chauvin held his knee on Floyd’s neck for eight minutes straight. Even as bystanders who witnessed the murder insisted that Chauvin had acted wrongfully, the Minneapolis police department did not immediately react to the issue by disciplining Officer Derek Chauvin. What’s worse is that George Floyd is one of many black and brown Americans that have died at the hands of police in recent years.
Rayshard Brooks was shot twice in the back for obstructing the drive-thru lane of a fast food restaurant. Daniel Prude, a man struggling with mental illness, died of complications related to asphyxia due to harsh police restraints. Breonna Taylor, was sound asleep in her home when she was shot eight times by officers. Only one of the three officers, Brett Hankinson, was fired on for mistakenly firing his weapon. Atatiana Jefferson was shot in front of her eight-year-old nephew after neighbors complained that her front door was open. Tamir Rice, 12, was shot dead by police for playing with a toy gun in a park.
The list of incidents in which police have used excessive or unnecessary force against people of color in the United States goes on. Oftentimes, officers involved in the senseless murders of black men and women walk free. Now let me ask you a question, if these victims had not been people of color, would any one of these murders have happened? No. So why should the color of a person's skin determine their fate the second a police officer asks them to step out of the car? Why are people of color put at an immediate disadvantage in the United States of America, where we claim to be committed to diversity and equality?
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