In death, George Floyd has created an invaluable and, some say, unprecedented moment for the national struggle against institutional racism and inequality.
In this June 1, 2020, photo, Miski Noor, an activist with the Twin Cities-based Black Visions Collective, visits the area where George Floyd died in Minneapolis. MINNEAPOLIS -- For 12-year-old Tamir Rice, it was simply carrying a toy handgun. For Eric Garner, it was allegedly selling untaxed cigarettes. For Michael Brown, Sandra Bland and Ahmaud Arbery, it was the minor offences of jaywalking, failing to signal a lane change and trespassing on a residential construction site.
In Minnesota, across the nation and around the world, outrage turned into action as protests grew, propelled by the reality that African Americans become martyrs of the Black Lives Matter movement over such trivial activities -- in circumstances where their rights are discarded, their liberty deprived, their lives devalued. And where they're far more likely than whites to die at the hands of police.
"Human life 20 bucks," read a protest sign during a rally last week at the Minnesota Capitol in St. Paul. But Jamar Nelson, a spokesman for the owners of Cup Foods, said it was important to recognize who is responsible for Floyd's death. Black men were about 2.5 times more likely than white men to be killed by police between 2013 and 2018, according to an August 2019 study published by the National Academy of Sciences. Black women were 1.4 more times likely than white women to be killed by police, according to the same study.
The response to the outrage over Floyd's death doesn't have to be defunding police, said Arthur Rizer, who directs the criminal justice program at R Street, a Washington D.C.-based non-profit that favours limited, effective government. The response could instead be to reform laws and policies that disproportionately criminalize Black people, he said.
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