BLM Protestors Taste Justice

BLM Protestors Taste Justice

Good news for the BLM Protestors. Former Minneapolis Officer Derek Chauvin was convicted on Tuesday of murder and manslaughter for pinning George Floyd to the pavement with his knee. He has been found guilty on 3 counts of manslaughter and murder and could be sent to prison for decades.

Floyd, 46, died on May 25 2020 after being arrested on suspicion of using a fake 20$ bill to pay for a pack of cigarettes at a corner shop. He was scared, pleaded that he was claustrophobic and struggled with police when they tried to put him in a squad car. They pinned him to the ground instead.

The main evidence of the case was the excruciating bystander video of Floyd gasping repeatedly, “I can’t breathe” and bystanders yelling at Chauvin to stop what he was doing as the officer pressed his knee on or near Floyd’s neck for what authorities say was 9 and a half minutes. Life slowly started ebbing away from Floyd as he went limp and silent.

Doctors and medical experts for the prosecution said that Floyd died from lack of oxygen, or asphyxia because his breathing was restricted by the way he was held down on his stomach by the officers, his hands were cuffed behind him, a knee on his neck and his face was jammed against the ground.

Floyd’s death led to widespread protests across the world, violence and a re-examination of racism and policing in the United States. Demonstrations and scattered violence broke out in Minneapolis, around the country and beyond. These protests also led to the removal of Confederate statues and other offensive and racist symbols such as Aunt Jemima.

What impact did this have across the world? A lot of famous personalities used their platforms really well to spread the BLM movement. Songs such as The Bigger Picture by American rapper Lil Baby popularised support for the movement. Black by British rapper Dave also popularised support for the movement. Rapper DaBaby released a music video for his hit song ROCKSTAR from the BET Awards 2020 which supports the movement.

Sportspersons such as Formula One racer Sir Lewis Hamilton were active in voicing their support for the movement. As a result of this, Formula One launched the #WeRaceAsOne initiative to support the movement. Drivers took the knee before every race to solidarity and support for the movement.

Football clubs took various measures to combat hate speech against black footballers and they take the knee at every game. Borussia Dortmund superstars Jadon Sancho and Achraf Hakimi took their shirts off to reveal “JUSTICE FOR GEORGE FLOYD” written on their undershirts after scoring in a 6-1 victory against Paderborn.

There were some people against this. People in America were against this as there were widespread looting in shops, widespread violence and COVID-19 cases rising across the country due to people breaking social distancing norms. Crystal Palace footballer, Wilfried Zaha refused to take the knee as he felt that taking the knee wouldn’t do much to combat racism against black people. Czech football club Slavia Prague refused to take the knee against Arsenal in a Europa League fixture despite facing strong racism allegations.

Despite all this we can conclude that the BLM movement raised worldwide awareness on racism and how we can combat it. This movement was considered to be the largest movement in the United States as there were over 15 million people who took part in the movement. It also brought to light to other countries about the racial issues the less privileged groups in the countries were facing such as the Dalits in India.

Blog by Mike

Improfane India