#203, George
On May 25, Minneapolis police responded to a call about a man who had used a supposed counterfeit twenty dollar bill to buy cigarettes. The man's name was George Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American man from Texas. 17 minutes after that call, he was dead.
One of the police officers who responded to the call was Derek Chauvin. After arriving at the scene, he restrained Floyd, putting him face-down on the street and forcefully applying pressure to his neck. Floyd's breathing became labored as he repeatedly uttered the phrase,
He said this fifteen times but Chauvin did not let up. After 8 minutes 46 seconds, Floyd lay motionless on the ground, dead. He was killed in broad daylight over some supposedly phony bill. The New York Times did an excellent analysis of the incident.
Protests erupted across the States calling for justice for George Floyd. It wasn't until three days later that Chauvin was finally arrested, but people's voices would not be silenced. The protests have spread across the globe from Paris to Berlin to Rio de Janerio to Jerusalem to Tokyo. It is one of the largest civil rights movements in the history of the planet.
To complete this Journal response, address the following:
Address one of the following: (a) What is your personal reaction to George Floyd’s death? (b) What do you believe would constitute justice for George Floyd and his family? (c) What lessons can be learned from George Floyd’s death?
Comment on a peer’s response.
-Brenden Lee Teacher