The killing of George Floyd has taken the world by storm as we have all seen by now, with protests taking place all across the country and around the world sparking conversations about the legacy of racism and police brutality experienced by Black people in America. According to the New York Times, 46-year-old George Floyd died on Monday, May 25, 2020, after being handcuffed and pinned to the ground by the knee of a police officer. The incident was recorded by a bystander and circulated social media networks early the next day, causing an FBI investigation and the ousting of the offending officer, Derek Chauvin, and three of his colleagues from the Minneapolis Police Department. Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey said that the technique used by former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin to restrain Floyd, pressing his knee into his neck, “is not permitted," and is not a technique officers are trained to use. Derek Chauvin is now being charged with second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter while the two officers who helped restrain George Floyd (J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane) and the officer who stood nearby (Tou Thao) are being charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting

second-degree manslaughter.

 

One moment that resonates from the video of George Floyd’s murder is Floyd uttering the words “I can’t breathe” while his breathing is being restricted by Chauvin’s knee. This moment is a painful reminder of the 2014 death of Eric Garner at the hands of police officer Daniel Pantaleo, who used a choke-hold to restrain him. Garner can also be heard uttering the words “I can’t breathe” on a video taken by his friend Ramsey Orta. The irony of George Floyd’s murder mirroring Eric Garner’s six years prior highlights just how little has changed in regards to police violence against Black people. According to mappingpoliceviolence.org, Black people have a three times greater likelihood of being killed by police than white people. However, despite the increasing visibility of police brutality in the media, ninety-nine percent of the fatalities by police from 2013-2019 ended with no officers being charged with a crime. 

 

According to a 2016 study, people who associate Black men with threat are less inclined to be critical of police conduct. The article also disclosed that being exposed to threatening images of Black men can influence people’s opinions of policing policy, causing people who associate Black men with threat to oppose policing policy reform. Consequently, the consistent negative portrayal of Black men in media outlets for crime-related reasons, whether as perpetrators or victims, contributes to this opposition. The fact that much of the general public, or non-black people, view police favorably and are biased against Black people in regards to law enforcement, has provided much of the fuel that ignited the Black Lives Matter movement. During this historically critical time period, the message of the Black Lives Matter movement is designed to expose and protest unjust and often deadly consequences of interactions between law enforcement and the Black community. Although an immediate end to police brutality cannot be assured, there are ways in which you can support this vital movement.

 

The Cut outlined multiple ways to assist for anyone who is struggling to play a role in this movement that will likely lead to changes that will impact society. These include 1. Familiarizing yourself with laws in your area and contacting your representatives to demand answers on how they will confront unjust practices in law enforcement 2. Imploring local lawmakers to reallocate budgets to fortify necessities such as housing, education, and access to healthcare, 3. Donating to the families of slain Black people and local grassroots organizations like Black Visions Collective and community health organizations like the Cultural Wellness Center, 4. Attending a peaceful protest (wearing personal protective equipment of course), 5. Providing resources such as water, food, masks, and donating items such as hygiene and cleaning products, as well as first-aid equipment, or volunteering in efforts to clean up businesses damaged due to riots and looting, 6. Educating yourself on America’s tenuous relationship with race in this country. If you are a parent, make sure your children are aware of the issues affecting our current society.

 

Lastly, if you want to ensure that the transformative legislation you hope to see in the future has a chance of being put into action, research who your local, state, and federal lawmakers are, contact their offices with your concerns, and commit to showing up at your local voting precinct to exercise your right to vote on the next election day. As a nation, we have a large amount of collective healing to do to mend the broken relationships between different races and ethnicities as well as between law enforcement and Black people. While the country still has a long way to go before Black people can feel completely secure and safe from the threat of  police brutality, the aforementioned steps outlined by The Cut provide a multi-pronged approach that allows people to support the families of Black people recently ravaged by death at the hands of the police while also educating ourselves on the debilitating effects of systemic racism. With the four officers mentioned at the beginning of this article having been charged with the murder of George Floyd, there is hope that there will be justice for Floyd and his family, however, the fight against police brutality and systemic racism continues.