Friend,
One year ago today, George Floyd was murdered by a Minneapolis
policeman after being arrested on suspicion of using counterfeit money
in a store. His killing was captured on video by a young woman,
17-year-old Darnella Frazier, who recorded the scene as a police
officer knelt on Floyd's neck and choked him for more than nine
minutes. The events of that day and the rise of Black Lives Matter
protests across the globe have been seared into our minds and the
history books for decades to come - and that's because of
the remarkable courage of many people and the conviction of one.
The courage was demonstrated by Darnella and other witnesses who
stepped forward to counter the excuses of the legal defense team. In
addition to Darnella, who testified in the trial of the killer, others
who showed great courage were Jena Scurry, a 911 dispatcher who
reported her concerns about the treatment of Floyd; Alisha Oyler, who
was working nearby and took video recordings; Donald Williams II, a
mixed martial arts fighter who warned the police that they were
killing Floyd; Judeah Reynolds, Darnella's 9-year-old cousin who
also witnessed the murder; Alyssa Funari, another 17-year-old girl who
recorded the killing; Kaylynn Gilbert, also 17, who witnessed the
murder; Genevieve Hansen, a firefighter who offered to render aid to
Floyd and was rebuffed by the police officers; Christopher Belfrey,
who videotaped the murder; and Christopher Martin, a 19-year-old store
clerk who had reported Floyd's use of a counterfeit bill and
later observed the murder.
It's especially notable that so many of the witnesses who came
forward were young people, people who had reason to fear the
consequences of their bravery. Many of these young women and men were
Black - and all were familiar with the frequent stories of
police harassment and violence against their community. These
witnesses took the stand seeking justice for Floyd, regretting their
inability to stop the murder and anxiously calling for accountability.
Their courage should serve as an inspiration to all of us. What if
each of us were given the chance to stand up to police brutality?
Would we be as brave? As Dr. Martin Luther King noted, "we will
remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our
friends." Our country was well-served by these brave young
people who spoke out to demand justice.
As a nation, we also owe mental health support and trauma counseling
to all of the brave witnesses who took the stand in the case. The toll
of being a witness and having to relive that trauma multiple times
through the trial is a severe one. If we want to encourage witnesses
to come forward, to be willing to share their experiences, we must
also be prepared to offer them the support they will need. This case
should lift up the importance of protecting witnesses and ensuring
that their courage is recognized and appreciated.
This story is also unusual because it resulted in a conviction.
According to Mapping Police Violence, 7,666 police officers killed
someone in the U.S. between 2013 and 2019. Mapping Police Violence
defines a police killing as "a case where a person dies as
a result of being shot, beaten, restrained, intentionally hit by a
police vehicle, pepper sprayed, tasered, or otherwise harmed by police
officers, whether on-duty or off-duty." Of the 7,666 cases, only
25 officers were convicted of a crime. In another 74 cases, the
officers were charged with a crime but not convicted. In 99% of the
cases, officers were not charged with any crime whatsoever.
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The conviction of Derek Chauvin for Floyd's murder most likely
occurred because the police department turned against the officer.
Witnesses included his supervisor on the day of the event, the head of
the homicide unit, the head of training, the police chief and others
in the law enforcement profession. All of them testified that the
officer should not have taken the actions that he did and that the
murder violated his training and his obligations to serve the
community.
It is highly unusual for law enforcement officers to testify against
their own. The facts of this case were indeed very compelling. But
police departments should consider why it is so unusual to have
official witnesses testify against those law enforcement agents who
cause harm. If they want to build trust with the communities they
serve, they must be willing to call out criminal behavior within their
own ranks. Hopefully this conviction will reset expectations for
police departments across the U.S.
On this anniversary date, we should take a moment to reflect on where
we must go from here.
The conviction is a significant relief and highlights the importance
of accountability. The courage of the witnesses and those who took to
the streets to protest Floyd's murder and other police killings
should become a call to action to all of us. We must be ready to stand
up whenever we see injustice, to call out those responsible and to
demand accountability. To the brave witnesses who stepped forward in
the trial, we owe our gratitude and our commitment to follow in their
footsteps. In George Floyd's name, we must continue the fight
for justice.
Sincerely,
Margaret Huang, SPLC President and CEO
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