Derek Chauvin – the Minneapolis cop who choked George Floyd to death last May – has been on trial since the beginning of April. The trial is now in its final stages. The prosecution called scores of witnesses to make their case. A paramedic who was one of the first to respond after Floyd went unconscious from lack of oxygen testified that he couldn’t feel a pulse when he arrived. A doctor who carried out an autopsy of Floyd testified that the cause of death was homicide – Floyd was murdered because Derek Chauvin cut off his oxygen supply. Even two Minneapolis cops testified against Chauvin to say that he violated department policy by kneeling on Floyd’s neck!
But despite the mountain of evidence – including the horrifying video – showing who killed George Floyd, there’s no guarantee that Chauvin will be convicted. His defense team has called witnesses to claim that Floyd had heart problems which led to his death. And one of the defense’s witnesses even claimed that Chauvin was justified in his use of force because Floyd was “noncompliant”! We can only imagine what noncompliance looks like when you’re struggling to breathe…
Chauvin may have been the individual who murdered George Floyd, but he was not alone. The entire system based on violence, racism, and exploitation is what led to George Floyd’s death. It’s not about Chauvin being a “bad” cop. It’s that the police as a whole are supposed to protect the private property of the rich and maintain the racist status quo. Chauvin is the human embodiment of an entire system that needs to be replaced. Just in the past two weeks, Roger Allen was murdered by San Francisco Police in Daly City, Daunte Wright was shot by police at a traffic stop after a cop “mistook” their gun for a taser, and the Chicago Police Department released video of 13-year-old Adam Toledo being murdered by police even after he complied with the cop’s orders.
The brutal, racist murders will not end by reforming the police or this system. They will only end when we organize ourselves and act together to overthrow capitalism and build a new society without racist police!
