How did you, or do you react to these 2 photos, and the stories behind them?
MLK's daughter makes this observation:
"If you're unbothered or mildly bothered by the 1st knee, but outraged by the 2nd, then, in my father's words, you're 'more devoted to order than to justice.' And more passionate about an anthem that supposedly symbolizes freedom than you are about a Black man's freedom to live."
26
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26 comments
Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.Totally agree. My hope is all 4 of them go to jail. For murder.
GreatNani
Level 8
May 27, 2020
13
We can all help make that happen by calling the Hennepin County District Attorney’s office, DA Mike Freeman. Keep calling if you get a busy signal. If you get voicemail leave your message. I called and got a live person after 15 dials and a busy signal. I demanded that the DA charge the four officers with murder.
I couldn't even get through that story. It's just sickening.
People who treat other humans like rabid animals should be abolished from the planet.
Those who agree that taking a knee during the national anthem to protest the wrongs of their country, is shameful, need to feel ashamed only of themselves.
Athena
Level 8
May 27, 2020
12
Sure, like the asshole that occupies the white house. That POS trump wanted the football players fired. Disgraceful.
@Stilltrying1964
... just to break away from this.
...but also the injustices that they can lock a black man up for 37 yrs for a crime he did not commit.
...and then we have these cops who don't care who's looking in broad daylight and don't give a
§#! * about it.
Thank you for posting this.
This man had made references to prayer and God as he told his story. I've been thinking lately, as so many people are struggling right now, that as much as I hate the destruction religion has caused, the delusion of a god is life saving for those who have lost so much. This man survived the injustice and all the rage that came with it, either in part or all because of his belief in God.
Now, it's possible that there was prejudice at play, that may have stemmed from religion, which got him convicted in the first place. Racists can see certain groups as disposable after all. That would mean that hating religion is the right thing. However, if there's anything positive that came from this man's belief, it's that it saved his life by giving him the strength to carry on.
@Athena
Thank you for your response much appreciated!
Yes, he had to have something to hold onto to remain sane while his precious life was taken from him. How many abused kids have imaginary friends to keep them going to remain sane. The prisons allow all the chaplains in. The prisoners see someone from the outside whom they believe cares about them. Religion festers!
I saw a documentary years ago about how many people in USA prisons who were set free mostly only after 2-3-4 decades through re-opening cases. They were all black people in that documentary. At the end of that documentary they showed how many more black people were waiting for help, for legal counsel to assist them. Their faces and the crimes they were accused of rolled up at the end.
An ex South African defence force soldier (from the apartheid years) told me that they were instructed to shoot anything black that moved on the borders.
...but they did it inside of the borders too. Young SADF soldiers would get pi***d and go into the townships and burn all the shacks and drive out. There's just so many dreadful and gross injustices, and the same people were in charge of the laws that governed us. How do these people live with themselves? The bible condones slavery and hate and division, to flog people etc
....what these savages have done to Floyd out in the open, shows how deep rooted this pattern is. ...and that it's still ok. They showed no remorse. ...how many of these sickening acts have they committed outside of the public eye and took pleasure in doing so??? We'll never know. USA is going backwards with hateful racism openly!!!
It's all just beyond my imagination and too painful to think about. It makes me feel sick, literally.
Watching a police officer, from this side of Atlantic, in full view of 10s of others, murder a human being, sends a sickening message to the rest of the world.
Some years back, UK assessed its reactions to hatred and hate crimes against blacks, Asians and other BME, it arrived at a conclusion that there was institutional racism. There have been tremendous progress, in race relations, since the murder of Stephen Lawrence, in hate crime in April 1993.
US, after Trump, needs soul searching, reevaluation of its moral conscience. Good people of the nation cannot sit idle and watch., less evil will continue.
1979Emm
Level 4
May 27, 2020
10
Exactly. Those who sit idly by are in fact enabling the evil.
I was a Peace Officer for the State of Colorado for 15 years. About 70% of my fellow were pieces of shit with very low integrity. They failed to even hold themselves to moral standards and were worse than the convicts simply because they were cops for the power and control. 30% were people I was proud to work with. In the end, I have very little respect for cops at all until they prove that they are worth respect. Badges tend to attract the type of person that should not EVER be wearing them. I am actually ashamed of my service as a Peace Officer not for anything I did but just being associated with them.
DavidLaDeau
Level 8
May 28, 2020
8
I have a cousin who is now retired from our local Sheriff's department. When he first started he mentioned it being a "good ol' boys" club. It was all about who you knew. I don't know if he eventually became a part of that club, or not.
I never demonize any group for the despicable acts of a few. I've worked as a civilian consultant with several departments, and i've worked with the types of officers who should never have carried guns. I never lost respect for their badges even if the people behind them needed training, control, or dismissal.
I understand and do respect authority. I have no respect for those who demand it without integrity.
@Joanne It very much becomes an "Us vs, Them" mentality. Often as a result what is right and wrong gets clouded and it morphs into a group think herd mentality. I to an extent was very much guilty of this myself. When I realized this I was ashamed and no longer wanted to serve.
@Joanne You abosolutely can call out bad cops! You just have to be willing to look for new work. The blue line does very much exist. In my case my bosses tried to set me up to be killed. Hence only 15 years and no retirement.
@DavidLaDeau : Yes, that's the problem. One has to be willing to be shunned, lose their job, maybe worse. And, it shouldn't be that way.
.I'm devoted to an orderly justice system. I don't know who trained these yabos but it wasn't the same people who trained me. I would be on stop order from my department if I came close to putting a knee anywhere near anyone's neck.
First, of course, the tragedy of someone losing their life; then the fact that it was lost to reckless stupidity and apparently untrained police officers who don't know what any 6-month Academy graduate should know.
If you take someone to the ground to put them in restraints (number one, you need a good reason to do so, like being physically resisted), the only acceptable way to apply leverage is a knee on the shoulder or the back. Then you stand said individual up. You do NOT, repeat do not leave them pinned to the ground or floor. There are multiple officers in these pictures. They have police vehicles. You stand the person up and put him in the back seat. PERIOD. That's it. Even if you don't have a car, you stand them up and wait. You're the police. You're automatically in charge of the situation. You don't assert that with a knee in the neck, for fuck sake.
I saw this last night and was beyond words. I'm still into "tranquil fury" over it. They don't deserve their uniforms. The fact of this incident tells me they've been conducting themselves like this for a long time now and it just chose this week to go south on them. These guys give a black eye to actual law enforcement professionals everywhere, including me. I and my partners will be second-guessed and Monday-morning-quarterbacked even more than we are now, in the very rare event of having to use force. This is the last thing we need in a prison where 1/4 of the population is positive for COVID. We have enough problems, and now this news.
Paul4747
Level 8
May 27, 2020
7
Training schmaining! Those motherfuckers are just racist fucks in uniforms. Sadly, there are way to many of them in uniform. Maybe a bit more vetting during the selection process at "the academy" would help.
@Stilltrying1964 You're making a conclusion without any evidence, unless you personally know anything about the individuals beyond what's in the news. That's all I have to say.
@Paul4747 I'm a licensed practicing professional engineer, I don't make conclusions without evidence. The video of the cop with his knee on the mans neck is evidence. The other cop wrote above that what they did was wrong. More evidence. The guy died. More evidence. Do you need more evidence? The people rioting in the streets don't. Leave it to a white cop to say such bullshit. You gotta defend your other assholes in uniform that commit racist atrocities and try to say there's just not enough evidence. Black men that have to have "the talk" with their sons so they don't die at the hands of racist cops. More evidence. Did your dad have to have "the talk" with you? Mine either, coz I am white. Open your eyes to what is right on front of you.
@SeaGreenEyez @Stilltrying1964 I am not defending their actions, as you have read above. They're as wrong as wrong can be. But you're reading their minds and calling them "racist", and that's unjustified unless you know them personally or know something about them beyond this incident.
I am on the inside and I know that this is an accusation that is thrown out anytime a white officer interacts with a person of another race.
When I ticket a black prisoner, he says it's because he's black. When I ticket a white guy, he says he wouldn't be getting a ticket if he was black. Everyone plays the race card. Whereas what I see is someone commtting a violation and then arguing with me, and making my day a little more of a pain in the ass. I don't see color.
Yes, there are racists in uniform. But law enforcement is not uniformly racist.
Talked to a friend of mine who's a former Army MP and he flat said that this wouldn't have even flown in a combat zone. There would have been Article 15s and court martials raining like (his words not mine) "dollar bills at an off post strip joint the day after tax returns"
@SeaGreenEyez Shame on you. You think you know me. You don't.
What someone does for a living is their job, not who they are.
Please don't ever, ever, ever try to read my mind.
both seriously pissed me off. There was zero need for it and it cost a man his life. That cop should be brought up on murder charges and the others should be facing accessory charges
redhog
Level 7
May 27, 2020
7
You're goddamn right! That man's family should get to do the same to the cop, I mean the murderer!
@Stilltrying1964 two murders don't bring back a life. But that cop should face murder charges and if that state has the death penalty then so be it
@SeaGreenEyez If it were up to me, the video evidence is there, call up the firing squad. Luckily for alot of murderers, rapists and child molesters its not up to me lol.
As absolutely fucked (pardon the word but its the best word to describe) our legal system in this country is we have to wait for it to slowly and inaccurately do its job. Its the way of things.
I was born and raised during the Apartheid Era here in Cape Town South Africa and I can say with definite certainty that this behavior by these cops would be met with extreme punishment and imprisonment , that shit will never happen here in my country, those cops would have been made an example of, that's for sure.
SkyreckedLoemm
Level 5
May 28, 2020
7
Cops here have virtually no oversite. They almost never have to answer for their actions, and when they do it is usually explained away, swept under a rug, or declared legal for some stupid reason or other. My favorite is they feared for their lives. If you are that big a chicken shit, maybe you shouldn't be a police officer. I'm of the opinion that officers should have a degree in social work or psychology. Would be far better to deal with those with psychological issues, or mental differences. There would be a lot more emphasis on deescalation. Right now it's just a bunch of racists assholes living out some ridiculous wild west fantasy or live action nazi nostalgia. I have zero respect for cops and treat every traffic stop as potentially lethal. And I'm a white woman.
It was on our news, & a lot of the arrogant US law enforcement totally disgusts me.
Lilac-JadeCanada
Level 9
May 27, 2020
7
I don't understand the first photo. Are they changing a flat tire?
I'm totally with Colin Kaepernick, so the second photo lifts my spirits. He is protesting a serious issue, and I would kneel with him any time.
BestWithoutGods
Level 8
May 27, 2020
7
They were kneeling on the neck of a black man who was suffocating.
A cop has his knee jammed into the fellow's throat until he died!
@Athena; @Lilac-Jade. In that case, I despise the cops in the first photo. It is not their job to murder others. They should capture suspects alive, and the courts should decide whether they are guilty or not, and what the punishment should be if they are guilty.
@Lilac-Jade
Fucking savages.
@BestWithoutGods Correct. Their job is to protect and apprehend. The job is not punitive. Sadistic bastards. They tortured him because they hate blacks and the poor man died.
I have been sickened, an dumbfuzzeled that the public has gotten so fearful of the brand of police that would comitt such an act, and even the other cops that would stand by and allow such a cold blooded murder to happen. Somebody should have blown that mother off the man, or at least tried to knock him off. The second taking of the knee...I applaud.....their action and their cause.
HankSherman
Level 8
May 28, 2020
5
@SeaGreenEyez @HankSherman my dad & I were talking about this exact thing last night. I said "dad you would be bailing my ass outta jail if I were to ever be a witness to such a heinous act. I would'a tackled that MF'er and smashed his head in the asphalt".
Bobbyzen
Level 8
May 27, 2020
5
Ironic the DA's name is Freeman!
@SeaGreenEyez Glad to see you're ready for action! Hope the virus has run its course...
In the UK the use of any neck-hold is prohibited except under exceptional circumstances and not to repress a suspect in that manor. Even using an officer to lay over a person can cause injury or even death.
Now, the taking of the knee to us Europeans demonstrates respect AND protest together. Intelligent people would ask why are they taking knee?
These men have social power, so what are they saying that they feel they must exercise that power to influence a maximum number of people.
This of course ties back to the socio-institutional racial divides, which are reinforcing themselves in American society.
A major influence to this act of violence by the police goes back to the founding of modern America and the ownership of land, property, people, goods and ideas. In other words America's love affair with capitalism to the extreme, which supports a far lower standard of freedom and social conditions when compared to similar countries for the majority. Link this to the incompetence of your Federal and State governments response to COVID19.
In the end there shouldn't be a Black Lives Matter movement, all lives matter, but the system keeps black and Hispanic people downtrodden. Indeed this insidious evil has made the oppressed self-oppressing, self destructive and insular.
Sofabeast
Level 7
May 27, 2020
5
I see no connection between the two pictures. I have yet to encounter anyone in any venue that has not expressed disgust and outrage over the George Floyd murder. If there is anyone out there that is unbothered or mildly bothered by this, that person is as depraved as the perpetrator.
dumasarok
Level 7
May 28, 2020
2
Now the police and the DA are reviewing the evidence that there was a crime committed by the police!!!
I say fuck that policeman, he committed first degree murder!!!
He should be shot in public for willfully murdering a handcuff unarmed man by torturing him to death by suffocation!!!
The evidence clearly shows that policeman willfully suffocating this man!!!
If you or I had committed this crime of willful first degree murder we would be in jail without any excuse!!!
I call for those who are now being Harassed by the police while demonstrating have the right for the citizen arrest of any and all police who are causing harm and are using any form of deadly force or the threat of it be jailed for crimes against humanity!!!
of-the-mountain
Level 9
May 27, 2020
4
I agree! This is first degree murder. The world witnessed this horrific deed against a defenceless man.
I am outraged beyond words at the murder at the hands of the police. I am outraged that none of the other officers did their jobs. None of them appeared, from what I've seen, to make any attempt to intervene.
I applaud Colin Kaepernick for his non-violent protest and putting his job on the line. I am tired of people saying he should do it on his own time. Really? Nothing he did cost anyone anything, either in time or money.
itsmedammit
Level 8
May 28, 2020
3
I feel really bad about this situation where the African Americans being targeted by white cops in your country. Like I said this kind of behavior would be met with extreme punishment in my country, (South Africa) today. This rimnds me in so many ways of the Apartheid system where the policing system controlled by white cops also had the exact same kind of power where they would stop you at any time, anywhere, and could do with you what they want if you resisted. However saying this, ever since our peaceful transition by avoiding a civil war and officially ending Apartheid in 1994. We now have a system where you couldn't even make a racist or racial remark to someone without being arrested, that's the kind of zero tolerance we now have here in South Africa and this beign a direct result of many years of pain and suffering brought onto South Africans by white supremacist. However saying this our country is not perfect but we at least did away with this evil known as Apartheid.
SkyreckedLoemm
Level 5
May 29, 2020
2
I am outraged by the first photo. I am inspired by the second photo. It takes immense courage to stand up for what you believe in especially when you’re a well-known figure. It is a very respectful way to protest and it is not an affront to the flag or country. It’s saying, I respect this country but we can do better.
YvonneB
Level 2
May 29, 2020
2
Interesting update:
Reading the full news article indicates that a case for justified use if force is already being built.
Amazing.
bigpawbullets
Level 9
May 29, 2020
1
The man was in cuffs, a total non threat. I cannot see how it could possibly have been necessary for the cop to cut off the man's oxygen.
And underlying health issue? If he can't breathe, he can't breathe. Is the cop's defense going to be that he was too stupid to know he was cutting off the guy's oxygen?
The article lists actions and facts that will certainly be used in defense of the four police involved in this. I'm not supporting either side, just indicating that there's probably enough "evidence" to either get these guys off, or stop the prosecuting office from even bringing charges.
Dear Sir,
Mr. Bigpawbullets,
Your source is the Washington Times which was/is owned by Reverand Sun Myong Moon of the Unification Church better known as the Moonies. So I do not find your source credible. The kneeling officer had bad blood with Floyd so the whole power struggle factor injects emotion into one of the most difficult jobs other than guard at Cook County jail, the police officer. I would attempt to corroborate this bit of "news".....perhaps?
The first photo is an outrage not because the man being murdered is black but because the police have been empowered to use excessive force, commit murder and get away with it. The same happens to white, brown, red, european, hispanic, african, asian, aboriginal, etc ... people. I bet if I took the time, I could find examples and photos of the same thing of every race. I believe the images, video and messages that are constantly being pushed into our faces are used to manipulate, distract and control.
The law enforcers and the people by whom they are employed (i.e. not you nor the general public) are generally not held accountable. The fact that this is being promoted as a race issue only empowers and enriches those in a position to profit from such a thing and serves to further divide society.
beenthere
Level 7
June 1, 2020
0
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