demonstrators in many US cities are not just protesting the violent death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The posters, on which “Black lives count” and “I can not breathe” show.
The people are angry about George Floyd’s death and demand justice, but the Slogans also symbolize the depth of Frustration over police violence and the desire that the behavior of the police in the United States will change fundamentally, especially towards minorities.
What are the statistics saying?
The website Fatal Encounters (Fatal collisions) documented killings by police officers, and goes back to the year 2000. Currently, the data are collected by means of 15 different Google Alerts. The database is considered to be one of the most reliable sources for deaths due to police violence in the United States.
On the 27. May was the number of incidents a total of 28.139. This year, 802 cases were registered. More than usual, says the founder of Website, Brian Burghart, in an Interview with DW: “Until the end of the year it will be probably in 1978. The highest number so far was in 1854, and this was in the year of 2018.”
Looking at the database of Fatal Encounters, there were up to 27. May not a single day in the year 2020, to the police officer no, people have been killed. The collection also shows that from the beginning, most of the victims were African-were Americans.
“they account for about 13 percent of the General population, but about 26 percent of the deaths in our statistics,” says burghart.
they are also overrepresented in some categories of death cases, including “smothered”, “medical event” and “with a subject of killed / beaten to the ground”.
What are the cases of fatal police have triggered violent protests?
2014 was a turning point for protests against killings by police officers in the United States. In particular, the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown sparked a nationwide Outcry against the actions of predominantly white police officers.
In July 2014, was taken by Eric Garner by a New York police officer on suspicion of illegal sale of individual cigarettes on Staten Island festival. During the arrest the police officer, Daniel Pantaleo, Garner put an Arm around the neck and took him in a stranglehold.
On video recordings is documented that Garner told the officers eleven Times that he couldn’t breathe before he lost consciousness – in a manner similar to George Floyd’s case.
An hour later, it was explained to Garner in the hospital for dead. His last words, the not breathe in the last repetition of “I can” became the Slogan of numerous protests and are still used today by the demonstrators.
Only a month later, Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri was shot dead by the police officer Darren Wilson. The white officials was aimed at Year six Times with his gun on the black unarmed 18 -.
The incident led to riots throughout the city. People marched through the streets, used the Slogan “hands up, don’t shoot” to make it clear that Brown and you should be no threat to police officers and not to be targeted were.
Until the middle of March of this year, police shot eight Times, Breonna Taylor, an emergency medical technician and an aspiring nurse, in Louisville, Kentucky, and killed the 26-Year-old. The officials had a search warrant that allowed them, without prior notice to break into Taylor’s apartment.
they were in the Believe that a suspected drug at the address had to deliver. The incident has stoked tensions in Louisville and elsewhere.
What happened after the killings?
From the point of view of many African-Americans were, after all this death, there were no adequate measures taken. Eric garner’s mother, Gwen Carr, said in an Interview with CNN, George Floyd’s death was “just like the murder of my son”.
Daniel Pantaleo, the COP, the Garner choked, was released in August 2019, however, there was no indictment. Darren Wilson, who shot and killed Michael Brown, was not indicted.
According to the project Mapping Police Violence (police violence, not Capture), the Fatal Encounters, used as one of his sources, resulted in 99 percent of the killings by the police leading to a prosecution.
Derek Chauvin, the officer kneels on George Floyd’s neck has been indicted for murder and manslaughter. A conviction will not, however, solve the underlying problems, as Philip V. McHarris, writer and doctoral student at Yale University. He is particularly concerned with racism and policing.
How can police brutality be reduced?
“It attempts to focus on individual officials or incidents, instead of looking at things as a comprehensive structural Problem,” he says to the DW. “The focus on individual civil servants will not lead to the end of the police violence.”
According to the McHarris this is also true for the training of officers in de-escalation, sensitivity, correct procedures, and the Wearing of body cameras – all measures taken by the police to reduce violence, especially against minorities.
In a comment, the McHarris for the “New York Times” participated in the drafting of rigidity, he argues that the police in Minneapolis was a “model for progressive police reform”, but that this fact could not prevent the death of Floyd’s.
“The reason why George Floyd’s case suggests, such a spark, is that he is part of a sad Trends,” said McHarris it to the DW.
“For many Blacks, it is the constant reminder: What happened to George Floyd, it can happen to me. This is not an abstract idea. You have killed a man in front of the camera, while bystanders asked in a vain effort to intervene.”
The reaction to the protests is currently an increased police presence and militarization. Instead, less police is necessary: “Instead of trying to reform the police and to give her more resources and more money, you should avoid all of this,” said McHarris.
“The money that is spent on police work, and punishment, one should switch to other programs and initiatives that have the support of the society.”
author: Alexander Matthews (jum)
*The post “United States: African-Americans in the crosshairs of the police,” published by Deutsche Welle. Contact with the executives here.
Deutsche Welle
