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In wake of the death of George Floyd at the hands of police, an unjust murder by people hungry with power I just want to remind everyone this isnt the exception in the USA, it is the norm.
Each year we have dozens of innocent or non-violent criminals murdered by police with plenty of evidence and the police almost always get off with little or no punishment, certainly arent treated as the murderers they are. Here is an incomplete list of many of the people unjustly murdered by police in the USA with evidence to back it up and with no or little justice ever served:
2009–2013
Oscar Grant
Aiyana Jones
Mark Duggan
Kenneth Chamberlain Sr.
Anthony Lamar Smith
Ramarley Graham
Trayvon Martin
Rekia Boyd
Jordan Davis
Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams
Larry Jackson Jr.
Jonathan Ferrell
Renisha McBride
2014
Dontre Hamilton
Eric Garner
John Crawford III
Michael Brown
Ezell Ford
Laquan McDonald
Akai Gurley
Tamir Rice
Antonio Martin
Jerame Reid
2015
Natasha McKenna
Charley Leundeu Keunang
Tony Robinson
Anthony Hill
Meagan Hockaday
Eric Harris
Walter Scott
Freddie Gray
William Chapman
Jonathan Sanders
Sandra Bland
Samuel DuBose
Jeremy McDole
Corey Jones
Jamar Clark
2016
Alton Sterling
Philando Castile
Joseph Mann
Abdirahman Abdi
Paul O'Neal
Korryn Gaines
Sylville Smith
Elijah Doughty
Terence Crutcher
Keith Lamont Scott
Alfred Olango
Deborah Danner
2017
Jocques Clemmons
Jordan Edwards
Edson Da Costa
Rashan Charles
Patrick Harmon
2018
Anthony Weber
Stephon Clark
Antwon Rose Jr.
Markeis McGlockton
Botham Jean
Jemel Roberson
EJ Bradford Jr.
2019
Willie McCoy
Atatiana Jefferson
2020
Ahmaud Arbery
Breonna Taylor
George Floyd
#GeorgeFloyd #uspol #FuckThePolice #justice #civilRights #CivilLiberties
For the sake of clarity I want to make a few corrections...
I compiled the list rather hastily and made a few mistakes
1) there are a few non-US cases in here, most are US though
2) some of these cases arent the result of police killings directly but also include police injustice such as murders that were not investigated by police.
I will have to do a revised list that is a bit more accurate when i have time to fact check this one by one.
Most of them are fairly accurate though.
@freemo Point of order though, while any such case is tragic and shouldn’t happen, I’m not sure it’s remotely fair to say that it’s “the norm” in the US. That strongly implies that it is very common and possibly, but not required, even accepted. The second certainly isn’t the case, even if the courts have generally failed us in this regard for various messed up reasons, and the second doesn’t appear to be the case either. While this list is, no doubt, incomplete, if we accept it as mostly complete it numbers just 67. Which is definitely 67 too many. However, it covers a period of 11 years resulting in around 6 per year. Again, still far too many. Yet, out of probably tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of “police encounters” 67 (double it for sake of argument) or even 134 is bad, but hardly “the norm”
All that said, reforms are unquestionably needed and “this sucks” doesn’t cover it. Scale and perspective both matter though and should be maintained
@wolfie Well yes. Despite my obvious prejudice against police I'd say being impartial in individual cases at least is very important.
It would be ashame that if a good-guy cop, however rare, was involved in an incident and got attacked for it. That would ultimately discourage good cops.
@wolfie @freemo I live in the suburbs of Minneapolis. I can't speak to most of your list, but Floyd and Castillo are ours.
I believe this much: if you're shot by cops in the street, you have been denied your right to a fair trial. Unlike questions as to whether the goverment can claim powers not mentioned in the constitution, or various interpretations of their intent, the constitution and bill of rights are pretty clear on this.
At the midterm elections, we voted in a sheriff (Hutchinson) whose platform touted de-escalation. That said, George Floyd died in Minneapolis proper, so the case belongs to the Minneapolis police. The mayor is screaming, so that's something.
@wolfie @freemo I didn't go to the protests. I'm told that they began peacefully. I saw some FB posts saying that the National Guard was called and the police were using lethal force. Don't know if that's true or not. Heard from folk who live a block from the protests that there was chaos and gunshots till 5am. Also, an Autozone was burnt down, the grocery store is burnt but standing, and I believe the Target got looted.
@Lwasserman @freemo From what I read/saw elsewhere, there were two ‘protests’. One a legit peaceful one and then.. yeah, the other one
@Lwasserman @freemo Sure, and they have a right to be angry. Thing is, when one starts burning down ones own town and probably more importantly, looting everything in sight, it starts looking a whole lot less like “people protesting an injustice” and way more like “thugs and criminals taking advantage of the situation.”
Sad thing is a perfectly justified and reasoned protest gets tarnished and harmed
@wolfie @freemo There's a video showing the guy smashing the Autozone windows, just after which, the smoke bombs start falling. Some folks on my feed are saying that the one who broke the windows, subsequently assaulted a woman, then ran into the police station. That part is not in the scope of the video.
Can I post the link to the video? It's on Twitter, and I'm not sure if that's an isdue here?
@Lwasserman @freemo No issue I’m aware of haha
@wolfie @freemo FYI
https://mobile.twitter.com/MistyGComics/status/1265975001443860480?s=20
Video of the protests in Minneapolis on Lake St., queued up to the part where the store windows were broken. Incidentally, not my twitter account.
@Lwasserman @freemo Sure, makes sense :)
@freemo Agreed, definitely way more than it should and the police unquestionably get away with things that regular people would never be allowed to get away with. On the subject of waiting for the facts to come in, that just seems generally a good idea