This may come across as mean, but I really have had enough of the beatification of George Floyd and the endless sympathy for his family. What did they do to deserve an audience with the President of the United States? It’s a little much.
So there is no misunderstanding: former cop Derek Chauvin, probably inadvertently, killed Floyd and deserved punishment. The 22 ½ years he got was fair, neither the top nor bottom of the sentencing guidelines.
The general population, the media, the sentencing judge, all have been wailing and tearing their clothes like mourners at a funeral.
Conveniently drowned in the tidal wave of grief is that Floyd was a drug addict, an ex-con with half a dozen felonies on his rap sheet, including threatening a pregnant woman with a gun.
For his part, Chauvin had used the same knee-on-neck hold with a previous suspect who survived with no harm. Chauvin probably expected the same result with Floyd, but had the bad luck of dealing with someone probably under the influence of drugs.
Which does not excuse the death.
Floyd was resisting arrest, although not forcefully, and the cops rightfully got him under control. The 9-minute knee hold was wrongful.
It is true the Floyd family is without George, but they are instant millionaires, receiving an astounding $27 million in compensation. George has done something for them in death he never could have done for them in life, and also lent his name to a movement he might not even have been aware of in life.
He became a global hero.
For what?
For dying.
What were his intentions, his principles?
He was trying to pass a counterfeit $20 bill. He was not marching for civil rights, he was doing something for himself.
Why should he be lionized while names like the Rev. George Lee, Medgar Evers, James Earl Chaney, Wharlest Jackson and others are lost to history?
Floyd was a repeat offender with a rap sheet going back more than two decades. He was an accidental martyr.
Had he not died — even with the video — there might have been a murmur of protest, but not the global burst of outrage that followed his death.
Every single day in America, Black men are killed, usually by other Black men. Does anyone care? Does Black Lives Matter march for them?
Where is the solace and support for their families? How many of them get to meet with the President?
Is it mean to ask those questions?
No it isn’t mean to ask those questions. Mr. Floyd also did some positive things in his life(mentoring other prisoners and helping out youths when he lived in Texas).His questionable behavior doesn’t rule out the fact that he was murdered by a member of the police force whose duty is to serve and protect. Depriving a man of oxygen for 9 minutes until he dies is more than “Wrongful” it’s murder. My question is how many instances like the Floyd death have occurred without any questions or scrutiny? There have been many marches that have denounced the Black on Black crime but they receive little to no attention. Once you have a criminal record it’s like walking around with a Bullseye on your back. Was two lives ruined worth $20.00?
The positives got more attention from the media than the negatives. I wrote “wrongful” to balance the “rightful” initial actions to subdue.
If BLM had “many” marches to denounce Black on Black crime, the media must be doing a lousy job, because I am unaware of them. In Philly, community groups have had marches, but I am unaware of BLM direction and with the $100 million or so they got, BLM should be able to make a really loud noise, starting in Chicago.
Still my parting question is: Was two lives( one taken away and one ruined) worth $20.00?
The question is irrelevant.
HAPPY SUNDAY !!!
Pallie,
NICE WORK ! I’m sure that you are aware of these following statistics:
World wide: population almost 8 BILLION, total deaths, more than 29 MILLION
Nation wide: from the Officer Down Memorial Page: 156 killed in the line of duty. 9 K-9s. Police Officer Apple died (
murdered )Saturday.
Center for Disease Control: ( 2019 ) more than 19,000. ( 2018 ) more than 14,000
Wikipedia: a chart by population ratio showing each state and territory. #1, Puerto Rico 166. #14, Illinois 832. #19,
Pennsylvania 669. New York 558.
Chicago: Chicago Tribune 319
Philadelphia: Office of the Controller, 264
George Floyd: True, a human life was lost. Sorry to say, Floyd’s life was gone decades ago. True, Officer Chauvin
murdered Floyd. Hopefully, The police with get better training and follow it.
Officer Apple became # 156 . There will be no big payout to this heroes family
27 MILLION ! In Philly, an accidental death on city property will get the family a maximum of $500,000. I know this being involved in several cases. Bring in a third party and the settlement goes up.
Was Floyd worth $5 or 27 mill or somewhere in between. We’ll never know. This settlement proves just how far we are catering to the left, blm, antifa and every else that has a agenda.
Tony
BTW Stu. 3 e-mails today showing 3,1 & 1 emails. I did receive al emails through your blog.
whoa- wait- stop-he’s not the greatest man of all time?-so I’ve been beating myself with briar branches everyday for nothing.
‘Critique Of Critical Race Theory’, a Grand Slam, this one a Slam Dunk!
Keep it up, Stu.
FYI: received last 3 posts this morning. Before them, goes back at least two months.
You did not go far enough.This scumbag (Floyd) was the perfect excuse for the Marxists to go faster with their revolution to destroy this country.This whole incident is the most disgusting thing to happen in my lifetime (six decades).Amazing what this drugged up criminal has been exploited into .The way the media,liberals ,wokes and Democrats have carried on with their lies and total lack of common sense is despicable And rewarding his family for what happened is just plain crazy.I have an idea for all his supporters why not build a temple to him and worship him like they did in ancient times? Never has such praise and sympathy been wasted on such a law breaking junkie.
Without going into past postings I think you made the point of the shortfalls of the black community and the wokes, white guilt individuals, and corporate implicit bias crowd. Loss of any life is to be taken seriously if done at the hands of Law Enforcement but in this case is reeked of human, political, and media failure. The point that was just as brutal was of Tony Tampa murdered in Dallas around the same time at the hands of three police officers when he was held face down for 13 minutes and he died. But he failed to fit the narrative as the officers and Timpa were white. Sarah Breedlove died also on May 25 she was an African American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and political and social justice activist, and the first black female millionaire. Her life should be the perfect example of a black success story where her life should be enshrined as a great day in black history and maybe a presidential honor. In addition to the 27 million given right before trial which meant an admission of guilt by the city, an additional 21 more million came from go fund me which is a staggering amount as you point out. Eloquent black professors, some you know have taken a more reflective, intelligent perspective but sadly are too conservative and are not supportive of martyrdom or victimization. I leave you with an outlook from one Charles Murray castigated for stating that blacks were inferior to whites. He has a new book coming out that continues along those lines but makes a dire prediction that if there is no push back against all these movements to rewrite history, white supremacy, critical race theory, and other attacks on whites then the nation as we know it is doomed..
In another post, I asked how many stories were written about unarmed white people killed by police? It is failure of a media consumed by race.
I want equal treatment, not special treatment.
FROM A BLACK MAN
https://www.theblaze.com/op-ed/whitlock-veneration-of-george-floyd-is-racist-and-must-be-stopped
Wow! This is a must read article. Thank you!
Stu, you write so eloquently, what a number of us are thinking…this is an example. it seems that all of what is going on is designed to make people racists instead of improving relations.
Thank you.
I cannot fathom the judgment of MURDER. It seems Officer Chauvin’s actions were, at most, MANSLAUGHTER. Officer Chauvin may be paying the penalty brought about by our nation’s descendance into racial politics rather than equal justice under the law.
Murder is a broad category.