Protests and unrest continue to rage in Minneapolis over the death of George Floyd.
Floyd, a black man, was killed on Monday after a white police officer handcuffed him and put his knee on his neck. In a video of the arrest, Floyd can be heard saying “I can’t breathe.” His death mirrors the death of Eric Garner in 2014, who similarly could be heard saying “I can’t breathe,” as he was choked by the police. The four officers responsible for Floyd’s arrest were fired.
In the wake of the incident, some residents have been setting fire to buildings and looting stores. According to reporting from CBS Minnesota, the Minneapolis Fire Department responded to 30 fires Wednesday night. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey asked citizens to go back to their homes over twitter and urged people not to “let tragedy beget more tragedy.”
Jabari Asim, a former editor at the Washington Post, now an associate professor of writing at Emerson College and author of 'We Can't Breathe: On Black Lives, White Lies, And the Art Of Survival," called the footage of Floyd’s death “emotionally wrenching,” and the legacy of police brutality against the black community in the U.S. “grueling,” on WGBH New’s Greater Boston Thursday.
Floyd’s death is just the most recent death of an unarmed black man by police in Minnesota. In 2016, an officer shot and killed Philando Castile as he reached for his license during a traffic stop in Falcon Heights. In 2015, Jamar Clark was shot and killed during a struggle with police in Minneapolis.
“This is sort of like the third strike as far as [protestors] are concerned,” Asim said. “People are understandably fed up.”
Both the FBI and Minnesota’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension are investigating Floyd’s death. Mayor Frey called the incident “horrible and completely and utterly messed up,” during a press conference earlier this week.
“Why is the man who killed George Floyd not in jail?" the mayor asked.
Officer Derek Chauvin, a 19-year veteran of the Minneapolis police, is seen putting his knee on Floyd’s neck in the video. NBC is reporting that Chauvin has received at least a dozen of conduct complains during his tenure and has received no disciplinary action.
Despite ongoing investigations, Asim believes that a significant change needs to be made to police departments to make black Americans feel safe around police.
“People are in a position where we’ve talked about reform for a long time. Reform has perhaps become too mild a word when we're talking about what we need to do with police departments,” Asim said.
