One reporting stated:
Minneapolis police said Floyd resisted arrest after officers responded to a forgery call Monday involving a suspect who "appeared to be under the influence."
Another reporting stated:
Floyd was arrested around 8 p.m. Monday for forgery, a non-violent crime that implies he tried to used forged documents at a nearby deli. Officers say he resisted arrest before Frazier started filming.
George Floyd had a job. He had an apartment he rented from his employer. He obviously had a low income. He may or may not have had a problem with alcoholism. He is a prime example of the racism we have to face in this country. African Americans die disproportionately from disease and during police arrests.
This reoccurrence resembles the death of Eric Garner and brings to mind questions such as, "Are these police taking the law into their own hands because they don't want to continue to respond to repeated offenses of minor crimes?"
In this case, Mr. Floyd fell to the ground while handcuffed. Mr. Floyd is a very big man. Eric Garner was a very big man. Four officers showed up. This was a method noticed in the death of Eric Garner. There were four officers involved in the Mr. Garner's death. Both Mr. Floyd and Mr. Garner are victims of racist economic oppression. That is a fact. I don't want to hear anything otherwise because COVID-19 has opened that well-kept secret. Both these men and their families live in poverty. They have no wealth to speak of and live from paycheck to paycheck. Those paychecks often don't make ends meet and the men have taken to minor crimes that never really put them in jail except at arrest.
In the case of Mr. Floyd, a Caucasian police officer not only put a knee on his neck to suffocate him but, another Caucasian police officer continually stated over and over, "Get in the car." The response by Mr. Floyd was, "I cannot move." The officer repeatedly said to get in the car while standing over Mr. Floyd while his fellow officers was postured to kill him through suffocation. Mr. Floyd was unarmed and never at any time was a threat to the officers. The officers in the case of Mr. Garner and Mr. Floyd were afraid of a big black man.
These cops are the same as the cops that took down Rodney King. They are afraid of big black men and they seek to end their lives through manipulated understandings of the law. With Mr. Floyd, he wouldn't get in the car no matter how many times he was told to do so. It didn't matter that he was dying, the cops make up a scenario to justify their murder. The cops get the idea they are above the law and justice is at their mercy.
There needs to be a moratorium on such actions by GROUPS of police officers answering to NON-VIOLENT minor ECONOMIC crimes. These men are not going to stop committing minor crimes. They don't have a choice to stop committing minor crimes. They don't have enough money to live their lives. Mr. Eric Garner is a prime example of a man trying not to make himself wealthy, but, sold single cigarettes to raise money to educate his children.
Kindly take into consider the hideous nature of the crimes Mr. Garner and Mr. Floyd committed. These are stupid laws. Elected officials need to assess the economic dynamics that are CAUSING THESE CRIMES and why these men are committing them over and over regardless of the reality they have a job and a place to live and possibly a family to support in that home. City mayors are not getting it right. Too many African American citizens are being needlessly killed by the cops. From busting down doors in civilian clothing to kneeling on a man's neck to kill him. There is no doubt in my mind George Floyd was murdered. I don't care if he was a repeat offender. An arrest of an unarmed man should NEVER end in the murder of the person being arrested. These instances are racism. It is all too obvious.
The way elected officials value their constituents has to reflect the economic suppression that is real. The elected officials need to have a plan to raise the communities up out of economic suppression. The elected officials have to demand the cops respect human life and carry no grudge of the citizens they are supposed to work to protect. The police MUST STEP BACK FROM THAT LINE THEY HAVE DRAWN ON THE STREET that provides them the right to take justice in their own hands. This is a police culture that MUST be purged from policing practice. There can be no more ambivalence to the proper behavior of the police.
This is racism and a self-righteous culture of murder.
