Member-only story
The Right’s Gilded Reaction to George Floyd
It was better than expected, but not good enough.
On May 25th, white police officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on African American George Floyd’s neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds, two minutes and 53 seconds of which occurred after Floyd became unresponsive. Floyd, who was on his stomach and restrained by multiple other policemen, did not appear to be resisting arrest. He can be heard begging police to let him breathe. His last request, as he lie dying, was to see his mother.
George Floyd’s mother has been dead for two years.
Maddeningly, the government’s autopsy found no evidence for strangulation, and seemed to suggest that underlying heart disease and intoxication were factors in George Floyd’s death.
But George Floyd did not die. He was killed.
Just as police misconduct is nothing new for African Americans, Officer Chauvin found himself in familiar territory.
Chauvin, himself the subject of 15 conduct complaints at the department, has been involved in multiple officer shootings.
He was present at two shootings — Leroy Martinez in 2011 and Wayne Reyes in 2006. In a third shooting, Chauvin himself killed Ira Toles in 2008.
