By Amy Goodman and Denis Moynihan
On Monday — Memorial Day — George Floyd was begging for his life as Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin pinned him to the pavement with his knee on his neck. “Please. Please. I can’t breathe, officer. I cannot breathe,” Floyd gasped while handcuffed. Onlookers demanded Chauvin relent, but he continued to drive his knee into Floyd’s neck. A devastating, ten-minute video recorded this slow-motion murder, breath by ebbing breath. Finally, Floyd’s limp body is roughly rolled onto a stretcher, loaded into an ambulance and taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Outrage spread as the video went viral. George’s brother Philonise Floyd told CNN, “Everybody loved my brother…They didn’t have to do that to him.” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, said in a statement, “His life was important. It had value…We will seek justice and we will find it.” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey added, “Being Black in America should not be a death sentence.” Frey has called for Chauvin to be arrested, and Floyd’s family wants all four officers charged with murder.
Reverend Bernice King, one of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s children, tweeted a photo of Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck, juxtaposed with a photo of Colin Kapernick, the star quarterback banned from the NFL for taking a knee during the national anthem, protesting police violence and racial injustice. “If you’re unbothered or mildly ... Read More →
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