The George Floyd Protests

On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was killed by a white Minneapolis police officer who pressed his knee against Floyd’s neck, for more than 8 minutes, ultimately asphyxiating him.

And to make matters even worse, while this was happening, and while others gathered and began to film the encounter with their cell phones, 3 other officers did nothing to help Floyd. Instead, they either participated in restraining Floyd or looked on, ignoring Floyd’s repeated pleas of “I can’t breath”, and the pleas of others who tried to alert the police to what was a clear and obvious threat to Floyd’s safety. Floyd died shortly after the incident.

Protest and riots across the county soon followed and have continued unabated for the last seven days.

The world is now watching, as Americans take to the streets in an attempt to address the historical inadequacies and inequities of a criminal justice system that too often fails to provide equal protection under the law.

And what the world is seeing, what we are all seeing, in addition to peaceful protests over a just cause, is police being shot, innocent people being injured, businesses being destroyed, and neighborhoods and communities being terrorized.

These protests are a lethal mixture of well-intentioned young people, the disillusioned and the disenfranchised…