May twenty fifth, a year ago
George Floyd had died of over stress
Handcuffed resisting his arrest
Cop, Derek Chauvin said ‘twas so
Like others many times before
His lies were there to be believed
He’d get off free, what he achieved
Another Nigger ain’t no more
Darnellla Frazier witnessing
Of Derek’s knee on George Floyd’s neck
She, on her smart phone did collect
A vid of Chauvin’s murdering
And published it all on Facebook
It changed the course of history’s tide
Caused demonstrations huge, worldwide
While Congress took a deeper look
Today it all came to a head
Court verdict: guilty, all three counts
Relief from overwhelming doubt
Justice served this time, instead
Congrats to all participants
The. lawyers, witnesses, police
George Floyd can finally rest in peace.
In spite of these developments
The racist problem still remains
It’s nurtured through a mother’s milk
With attitudes that cause no guilt
Immune to how a person’s trained
Suggestion: just a simple one,
Along with barring choking holds
For cops whose duty is patrol
Equip with tasers but no guns
Deep prejudices will be there
For some who have policing skills
Reduce the means by which to kill
Then blacks of cops need not beware
4/20/2021
Hi Dad:
I like your poalitics today. Leigh and I were troubled by the verdict until we got some clarification this morning. Our issue was that while manslaughter was clear, it was not clear to us that this was premeditated and that he actually intended to kill Floyd. Of course, we only see the News summaries and we were not there at the trial. This morning we looked more closely and found he was convicted of 2nd and 3rd degree murder (in addition to manslaughter). 2nd degree murder standard of proof includes “Your reckless actions, which showed extreme indifference to human life and created a grave risk of death, caused the death of another person.” (1st degree murder requires pre-meditation)
Given the video, I believe the only way Chauvin could have avoided conviction would have been to testify on his own behalf so that he could say he was not “indifferent to human life.” I am sure the defense knew that too and their decision to not have him testify probably meant that he really was indifferent to the victim’s life.
To the bigger point, police practices, I do not want our police showing up to a gun fight with tasers, but I do think that much of what we are expecting the police to handle should be handled by social workers instead, with police just as back-up.
Love,
Mark
Thanks, Mark for the thoughtful comment. If you saw the video you would have seen Chauvin’s indifference for Loyd’s life. My suggestion of no guns, just Tasers was for traffic and patrol officers who rarely have to deal with guns. Detectives and swat teams are a different story. They are the ones who most often have to deal with guns.
From the “Word of the Day” blog:
n nothing does man, with his grand notions of heaven and charity, show forth his innate, low-bred, wild animalism more clearly than in his treatment of his brother beasts. From the shepherd with his lambs to the red-handed hunter, it is the same; no recognition of rights — only murder in one form or another. -John Muir, naturalist, explorer, and writer (21 Apr 1838-1914)
Thanks, Juliette, for you Muir quotation. I think you are including the human beast among Muir’s ‘brother beasts’.
Yes, I had a particular human beast in mind when I read this quotation.