The Derek Chauvin trial {Mod Edit: Guilty on all charges} (2 Viewers)

Yep. I do ask myself what I would have done in that situation. I'd like to think I could have done something. But until I've been put in that exact scenario or something very similar, I really don't know what I would have done.

Sort of makes me think of the recent attack on the Asian American woman who brutally attacked and the people by the door of the building where it happened just stood there doing nothing. Makes me sick thinking about it.

The Chauvin murder was made worse because the police are supposed to be trusted public servants. Those people standing around wanted to believe that the cops would figure out they needed to get off of him when he stopped resisting (I'd argue he never really resisted like I would if cops were on top of me).

I completely understand why no one physically intervened. The real right answer is the cops allowed this to happen. I'm not really sure what the bystanders could do other than make an already terrible situation worse.
Does passing a fake $20 bill warrant pulling someone out of the vehicle, or arrest? I mean, I dunno. I would think writing a ticket and sending him on his way would make the most sense.

But then, not much about this whole thing makes sense. The only think I can come up with is Chauvin wanted to make an example of this guy.

This was just a cold blooded murder and Chauvin should spend the rest of his life in prison. He unfortunately won't though. I think he's found guilty and he'll be in prison for a while, but not long enough.

Actually, yes. It is a felony regardless of amount and is kicked up to the feds
 
We could be talking more about ending qualified immunity, making officers have their own liability insurance, independent investigation of abuses outside of departments, and other measures, but those issues are so back burnered that they don't get traction because all people want to talk about is race.
But those things *were* talked about over the past year (or two, even). Anytime police reform is mentioned, there are the certain types who back the blue no matter what.

Now I get in part what you're trying to say --i.e.,because race and BLM are involved in those discussions and they revolve around police abuses of black people thus leading to a racism angle on the ensuing discussion, too many people jump to the side of the police in a defensive knee-jerk manner (the ones who would say "All Live Matter" or "Blue Lives Matter" in response to any protest where BLM appears, and those who would twist statistics to show that blacks are "inherently violent" or "more violent in interactions with police") instead of actually listening to those issues. And maybe there is a grain of truth to that. Had Floyd been white, there might have been better discussion afterwards -- but I sincerely doubt it, as police are given the benefit of the doubt in case after case after case when police brutality is alleged, and if Floyd was white there wouldn't be as much discussion about his death in the first place.
 
The murder of George Floyd is a direct outgrowth of white supremacy. White males are terrified of what they perceive as a loss of power and, as the most entitled and self-serving demographic in the country, will do anything to hold on to "their" power. The USA continues to incarcerate blacks at a higher rate than South Africa did under Apartheid.

In the aftermath of the Civil War, the entitled white planters of the south began to lose their power as their slaves and servants were freed. Union troops enforced new laws protecting freed blacks. The white planter class reacted to this by forming the KKK, which continues to this day as the Proud Boys and other white supremacist groups.

The only way whites have given up their power is when changes are mandated and power is taken from them. Derek Chauvin is a white supremacist and murdered George Floyd in accordance with white supremacist views.
Maybe. Typical far reaching and stereotype of an entire race. Fully expected position in today’s society. Each race hates the other is a more accurate position.
 
I stuck to talking about the trial. Trials are about people not ideas. The issue of "racism" or "misogyny" are NEVER going to be decided in a trial. They just can't be. I also don't think they can be fixed but, again, this is about the trial.

Again, let's turn to one of the state's prominent witnesses, a teenager, for guidance.

“When I look at George Floyd, I look at look at my dad. I look at my brother. I look at my cousins, my uncles, because they are all Black,” Frazier said. “I have a Black father. I have a Black brother. I have Black friends. And I look at that and I look at how that could have been one of them.”

So, for you, this trial isn't about "racism." For you, this may be just about "police procedures and dumb cops" and not race. But, for so many of your fellow Americans, it most certainly is. And being that they are the demographic most likely to be terrorized by this type of policing, it falls upon those in the demographic less likely to be affected to empathize and bend a bit on their understanding.

If they are willing, that is. Anytime something bad happens, involving race, I always hear afterwards, "how do we fix this? how can we change this?" And, yet, these are the tangible moments where change can begin to take shape if those who are so certain of what is, while less affected, would consider a different possibility and perspective.

For you, this isn't about race. For you, it's just a trial. For you, a trial can't fix racism. All that is your truth. But, I guarantee that you don't face policing like I do. And all of that certainly isn't my truth. I'm glad for some Americans that this is just about this one trial. I so genuinely wish I could live in that America too.
 
Almost certainly nothing like that today. I don't know how often they do training refreshers, but Chauvin had been on the force for quite a while. Maybe the protocols were different at that time? Certainly, I would think the training would state some limited length of time if applying a knee to the head/neck area to restrain someone. But I have no clue what it looked like then or now.
They showed video of Chauvin rolling suspects over on their side and arresting them so as to avoid cutting off their breathing. Clearly, he knew what he was doing that day. A "not guilty" plea would ignite this country, so for all of our sakes I hope the jury finds him guilty.
 
They showed video of Chauvin rolling suspects over on their side and arresting them so as to avoid cutting off their breathing. Clearly, he knew what he was doing that day. A "not guilty" plea would ignite this country, so for all of our sakes I hope the jury finds him guilty.

Yeah, I haven't much of the trial, but if he's shown to treat others differently like that, I can't see how the jury would mistake this for anything other than willfully killing Floyd.
 
For some who are saying policing is biased. I don’t buy it. I guarantee you I shake in my boots just the same as everyone the moment I see a cop. I go the other way. I stay at home. I don’t go out late at night. I stay away from them. That is fact.
 
For some who are saying policing is biased. I don’t buy it. I guarantee you I shake in my boots just the same as everyone the moment I see a cop. I go the other way. I stay at home. I don’t go out late at night. I stay away from them. That is fact.
Do you fear for your life upon being pulled over by a police officer?
 
So, why hasn't it been solved yet Tom? That's like attempting to solve rape without addressing misogyny with the basis being well men are sexually assaulted and raped too. We are ALL victims. Not equally my friend. Law enforcement has an abuse of power and subverting rights issue but one demographic disproportionately experiences those issues more than others. Undeniably. How can possibly have police reform without resolving their white supremacy problem and how can you possibly address white supremacy without addressing race?

Lost in a history you don't understand.
Read the history of Reconstruction post-Civil War and you see the direct ties to today. For many, the post-war attitudes have not changed, they were just subordinated. Southern police during Reconstruction wore Confederate gray uniforms. The symbolism was not lost on the Black population.

To many whites, blacks are inferior and don't deserve to be treated as equals. It's as simple and sad as that.

Lost in a history we many times do not understand is a good way to put it. To understand where we are, we need to look at where we came from. For many of us whites, that's a degree of introspection we simply are not willing to engage in because it explodes the "self-made man" myth. Many successful white males are the product of a society that was set up to enable their success at the expense of pretty much every other demographic in the country.

We needed the Civil Rights Act in 1964 to even begin to right the ship. That's not ancient history, it's current events. Some say we've come along way in race relations. I beg to differ. Recent events highlight the ongoing race issues in this country but now social media makes it difficult to simply sweep these incidents under the rug.

My roommate at University of Maryland was black. Derak and I would talk about race, and he said "You'll never know what it's like to go into a department store and have the clerk follow you the entire time because he or she thinks you'll steal something. They have no idea, My parents would kill me" These words rang true, but I got a much more graphic demonstration of race relations. In the spring of 1981 Derak's parents came to campus to take him to dinner. Since I was there, they asked me to go as well. Eager to duck dining hall food, I gratefully accepted. We went to a local restaurant and stood in the foyer waiting to be seated. Derak's parents in front with Derak and me standing behind. The hostess walked right around his parents, looked beyond Derak, and asked how many were in my party. I was appalled. I said "You need to ask these nice folks, I'm with them" Then said "We can leave if you want" "Nope, we're eating here" Derak's dad said.

Derak looked at me and shrugged. In that gesture was 350 years of Black American history. That shrug said "Now you get it" I certainly did. 350 years of being shown how little you matter, and indeed you're invisible.

That was 1981 in College Park, Maryland. Not the Jim Crow south. The extent to which these attitudes still prevail is sickening.
 
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True , even though my opinion was the same as Saintman2884 , I get hammered and he gets hindsight , thanks friend .
that's because he wasn't speaking in absolutes and blaming EVERY SINGLE bystander of doing.NOTHING. maybe you forgot you said those things? also the fact you said you wouldn't resort to physical, but wouldn't answer what the alternative would be other than physical interruption. but I'm sure you still won't.
That is why you get "hammered" and he didn't.
 
For some who are saying policing is biased. I don’t buy it. I guarantee you I shake in my boots just the same as everyone the moment I see a cop. I go the other way. I stay at home. I don’t go out late at night. I stay away from them. That is fact.
Sentences 3-7 might be facts
But they don’t prove sentence 1
 

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