NAIL CHAUVINISM

We all saw the video of George Floyd dying. It was truly awful. Even Donald Trump said it was an outrage. It “looked” like Derek Chauvin leaned on George Floyds neck and choked him to death. Yet, few people actually saw the entire video, along with video from other directions. It is not clear that Chauvin even had his knee on Floyd’s neck at all, but rather on his shoulder. The goal of the MSM, from day one, was to convince people of two things. That Derek Chauvin deliberately killed George Floyd as he lie there helplessly on the ground. That this was just the most recent example of systemic racism and abuse of power against unarmed black men.

The fix was on from the very start. Extreme pressure was put on the Medical Examiner to find this a homicide. There was extreme pressure on everyone, including, but not limited to, the Mayor, to the Police Chief, and to the President. All demanded one thing, the conviction of Derek Chauvin for murder.

Minneapolis had previously fired its police chief in 2017. In November 2015, Jamar Clark was shot by police. They were trying to handcuff him when he reached for the officer’s gun. The officer shot him. There were days of protests. In July 2016, police shot Philando Castile, because they believed he was reaching for a gun. Some remember this because his girlfriend livestreamed him while he was dying. The police were tried, and acquitted. There were also protests about this.

Minneapolis was also where former police officer Mohamed Noor shot and killed Justine Ruszczyk Damond, who had called police to report an assault in process, only to have the police shoot her. The City of Minneapolis paid $20 Million to her estate.

Mohammed Noor was black, and Justine Damond was white, so while there were protests, there were no large crowds screaming about systemic racism. Most, but not all the protestors were white. No one alleged racism. It does appear that the Minneapolis police had a history of killing people, under murky circumstances, but not necessarily because of racism.  So, when the George Floyd case exploded, the fuse had been lit years before. Like most deadly encounters between police and a suspect which results in a death, things are complicated.

In any event, the circumstances all impacted the Derek Chauvin trial. It got worse when Maxime Waters demanded violent protest if he was acquitted, and Joe Biden said he was obviously guilty. He even claimed to be praying for a conviction. Joe Biden also said this was evidence of systemic racism.

Other than the fact that George Floyd was black, there does not appear to be anything racist about this. If you doubt that just imagine a white man, get high on alcohol, methamphetamines, fentanyl and weed, try to pass a counterfeit $20 bill, and then get behind the wheel of his car, apparently planning on driving some place. His treatment by police would probably have been similar. And, oh, have him resist arrest. The primary difference is that no crowds chanting insults at police while filming with cell phones would have been around.

George Floyd did die, and that is tragic, but it is unclear that Derek Chauvin killed him. If police had not been involved, with this tox screen this would have probably ruled death by overdose. Something that happens, unfortunately, all the time. It is interesting to note that the medical examiner’s report does not mention asphyxiation.  Early reports revealed no findings that support a diagnosis of traumatic asphyxia or strangulation. The independent medical examiner, hired by the family, said that he died from asphyxiation.

https://www.npr.org/sections/live-updates-protests-for-racial-justice/2020/06/04/869278494/medical-examiners-autop

Under pressure, the Hennepin County Medical Examiner concluded that the cause of death was:

“cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression.” 

One also notes that while there was evidence of blunt-force injuries to the skin of Floyd’s head, face, upper lip, shoulders, hands, elbows and bruising of the wrists consistent with hand cuff, there is no evidence of injury to his neck.

But none of this mattered because the jury was determined to convict Chauvin from the start. Now we learn that one of the jurors was at a BLM rally, last summer, apparently wearing a shirt that included a reference leaning regarding leaning on George Floyd’s neck. He did not consider this important information to give the court when evaluating him as a juror.

It now seems certain that the Chauvin verdict will be overturned.  He may or may not be tried again. If he is, it is unlikely to be a week’s long televised event. The outcome of that trial, if there even is a trial, is obviously not known at this time. What we do know is that Minneapolis is in for a long hot summer of violent BLM protests, many of them holding pictures of George Floyd.

Ironically, in the desperate attempt to convict Chauvin, that black juror may have instead set him free. This case is troubling. Someone should have noticed that George Floyd was no longer breathing. But we should also consider what it must be like to be a police officer, involved with a potentially violent suspect, surrounded by people screaming at you and filming everything with cell phones. That is a guaranteed recipe for bad results. We should also note that the Minneapolis Police Department has been “retraining” officers to prevent violence for at least five years. In the meantime, thanks to irresponsible reporting, black men are, if anything, more likely to resist arrest than they did in the past. The results are guaranteed to be catastrophic; the only question is who will get hurt most, the suspect, or the people he injures if he can escape.

We will all pay a high price for Nail Chauvinism. The highest price of all will be paid by people living in minority communities plagued by black on black crime.

TDM