Throughout recent days, Minneapolis has been rocked by intense demonstrations protesting the police murder of local black man George Floyd. On Thursday night, as all of the cops involved in Floyd’s murder continued to evade any sort of legal accountability for their actions, demonstrators even stormed the police precinct building where those murderous cops were based and set much of it on fire. President Donald Trump responded to the rioting by appearing to many to threaten to have the military shoot demonstrators. In stark contrast, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden spoke out in an abruptly announced video message this Friday afternoon and proclaimed that Americans must take this opportunity to grapple with the scourge of racism that has borne down on black Americans.
BREAKING: Minnesota authorities say Derek Chauvin, the police officer who killed George Floyd, has been arrested. This comes after three days of protests in Minneapolis and around the U.S. to demand accountability and denounce police brutality. pic.twitter.com/NqNeRkbniD
— Democracy Now! (@democracynow) May 29, 2020
Biden also revealed that he had personally spoken to the family of George Floyd, although it’s unclear if the actual current president has done so. Trump has been infamously callous on calls with grieving families in the past. Meanwhile, Biden commented, in part:
‘We need to stand up as a nation with the black community, with all minority communities and come together as one America. That’s the challenge we face. It is going to require those of us who sit in some position of influence to finally deal with the abuse of power. The pain is too immense for one community to bear alone. I believe it’s the duty of every American to grapple with it and to grapple with it now.’
Check it out below:
Joe Biden says grappling with issues of systemic injustice "is going to require those of us who sit in some position of influence to finally deal with the abuse of power."
"With our complacency, our silence, we are complicit in perpetuating these cycles of violence." pic.twitter.com/YEgey5MnnK
— ABC News (@ABC) May 29, 2020
Contrast that with the message that Trump issued this week about the Minneapolis situation.
He posted on Twitter:
‘These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won’t let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!’
That particular post was marked by Twitter as in violation of their rule against glorifying violence on the site, although they left it up so that the public could see what the president had done. He’s talking as if his own personal offense at the demonstrators running afoul of his ideal version of American “greatness” is anywhere near one of the most important considerations here. It’s not. Nobody elected Trump as the arbiter of black people in the United States, no matter how much he wants to act like a racist bully.
Derek Chauvin, the police officer who murdered George Floyd, was arrested.
This is not enough. We have much further to go — including swift, independent prosecution conducted by the Attorney General's office.
The fight to dismantle a violent, oppressive system has just begun. https://t.co/46o1tx0Cqo
— ACLU (@ACLU) May 29, 2020
Apparently, the Department of Justice has launched their own investigation of Floyd’s death, but it’s unclear how trustworthy that investigation would really be in light of the Trump appointees who are scattered around the department.
BREAKING: Derek Chauvin, the cop who knelt on #GeorgeFloyd and one of four cops on the scene, has been charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter. pic.twitter.com/fgwtiCFGZD
— Pod Save America (@PodSaveAmerica) May 29, 2020
On Friday, former police officer Derek Chauvin, who was fired after he led the murder of George Floyd, was taken into custody after days of public outcry and charged with murder. In many other police brutality cases around the country, officers have walked away scot free after perpetrating heinous violence, so the exact outcome of this particular case remains to be seen.
Breaking: Derek Chauvin charged with murder pic.twitter.com/cBUwAa468J
— Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) May 29, 2020
