The case has only become totemic because of the video footage, and people's natural revulsion at seeing it, and Floyd was not a good man, but there is an historic context of black Americans' relationship to the police and the criminal justice system (and issues like voter suppression as well), which plays into the reaction. Some of the reaction is just foolish campus-Communism -- in the US and certainly in Britain, where BLM UK is just a front for the Socialist Workers' Party and spends most of its time ranting about Israel. But Americans are better placed than us Cisatlantics to say what the episode means to them.

hahahahaha yep

I fully acknowledge that but America is polarized and there's definite race baiting at play. Chauvin's race was highlighted superfluously as was the McLoskey's. Black Americans make up a mere 13% of the population yet a black POTUS got voted in for two terms so the US populace clearly isn't as racist as segments of the American left want us to think. It's said whites get preference over blacks in housing in the US- yet Asians get preference over whites. One of the largest middle class is Indian. These are poc, yet systemic racism doesn't seem to affect them. But I hear nothing of "Asian privilege".

The US left are going on like it's the 1930s or something and that's what I'm not buying as again minorities are part of the system there including the highest rungs. I'm not for a moment denying there's racism in America but I don't believe it's anywhere near as bad as the US left are pushing regarding systemic racism. Many black conservatives are quite vocal in their disagreement on this also. Many others have gotten into trouble with their employers for criticizing George Floyd or blm. You've had politicians kneeling in solidarity so again I'm not buying into this systemic racism narrative.

But it's their country and if they want to stay divided and protest and riot to their heart's content, then they'r welcome to, far as I'm concerned. Let them all hate each other, won't affect my life.

looooooool

I don't believe I claimed only the left burns down buildings, uses graffiti, breaks windows, intentional hurts business by doing things like taking up reservations and no-showing, boycotting or social media attacks. I think they make up a huge majority of these kind of attacks, but not all AND no matter who is doing them it is wrong and the perpetrators deserve to be punished.

Punishing boycotting and negative reviews. Murica.

What kind of punishment do you imagine boycotting and social media posts should incur?

thank you for admitting that you have no idea what you are talking about. your honesty about your massive ignorance is refreshing.

you also have the right's misunderstanding of what privilege means in the context of "white privilege" which is also understandable considering the type of media you most likely visit. white privilege doesn't mean that whites in america are privileged in the literal sense. it means that our skin's color has never SPECIFICALLY been the cause of our lives worsening in someway.

im happy to continue to educate you in these things that you clearly dont understand. if you have further questions feel free to ask.

'White privilege', surely, just means you go about your day taking it for granted that you don't have to worry about racist aggravation. Rather as 'male privilege' means you don't constantly worry about the possibility of sexual assault or harassment. The absence of those cares is probably a much greater privilege than most of us realise, never having known the alternative.

And things got worse from there because there's nothing illegal about passing a counterfeit bill unless you know it's counterfeit. So they probably didn't have grounds to arrest him in the first place.

Additionally, while I agree with you that the media tends to sensationalize the "White cop on black suspect" narrative, I'd hope you'd agree that a thirty-something white guy in the suburbs probably isn't getting arrested just for passing a fake bill; meaning the narrative isn't entirely without merit.

I watch both liberal and conservative media outlets re the current American malaise and both of them push their own agenda, so I assess the merits/flaws in both arguments.

I take it "white privilege" is part of this systemic structural foundational institutionalized societal racism, yeah? Which cunningly has black police chiefs, mayors, POTUS', CEOs, billionaires and predominantly minority LE in some cities to give the illusion of normality like in The Matrix? Black Americans skin colour today doesn't worsen their lives in terms of the actual system. Individual racists, sure but not some concentrated attempt to persecute or subjugate black Americans from the system regardless of your subjective opinion passed off as assertion.

I don't need any educating from dishonest posters either, they tend to be terrible teachers so I'll just have to pass on your gracious albeit absolutely worthless offer, thanks all the same.

The "what other intent could be ascribed...." line of argument would work if Chauvin had held Floyd's head under water for several minutes until he died. Hard to find reasonable doubt for his intent with that. But with the actual case, I think it's going to be tough to prove "intent to kill" just based on the circumstances we're privy to. They'll need some additional evidence to get there, imo.

. Depends on the context. From what I read the clerk apparently "demanded" the cigs/change back. You don't make demands on any customer and the term used intimates aggression or a confrontational attitude on behalf of the clerk.I also read the clerk "followed standard procedure" by calling the cops, but I reckon he didn't check the bill at first, realised his mistake and panicked because he thought he'd be fired or it would come outa his wages or something. Floyd meanwhile was under the influence so things coulda escalated.

I can't give a perspective on America, over my way which while quite multicultural is predominantly white, it wouldn't matter if you were white or from the suburbs, if the cops were called o you, although a more community oriented approach would e taken, less authoritarian.

Now that said you could well be right re the US and that implicit bias may have played a part in the cops being called, but if so (and again your point is valid) then that could be due to individual bias, instead of systemic oppression.

Re grounds for arrest I'd agree re the bill but dunno if the cigs technically could constitute fraud, even if Floyd didn't know the bill was counterfeit. The police might need to at least sort the matter out (I'm talking in normal cases) between both parties. Burt I also found it odd cops were called.

Lololololol and um etc

There are still organizations solely built on and devoted to asserting white supremacy around today--primarily in a white vs black context. Some black people in the police and political positions is not proof that racism doesn't exist throughout the system lol Also, you're being very naive if you think there's no racism directed at Indians and Asians here. Each of the minority groups have different overall stories attached to their time here. In fact--there's even a specific Irish-American>>Black people story on its own here. Irish people Hated being equated with black people and that resulted in some ugly behavior on their part--hey guys look we can be twice as nasty can we be on the team now please??

There were Irish people in similar positions over the years no? Were the English magically not still oppressing the Irish when that was the case? I assume everything's all sorted out now and everything's all peas and carrots all around.

i had a long post typed out with examples of systematic racism to try and explain it to you, but i just asked myself, what am i doing?..

you can't seem or willfully refuse to get past the idea that just because something wasnt done with, or something wasn't built with the explicit purpose of being racist, doesn't free it from racism.

your view just isn't how anything works. it's just silly

anecdotally, i've had two people in my life deal with unknowingly passing counterfeit bills. im going to assume floyd unknowingly passed it, because who knowingly passes a counterfeit bill and then hangs around in the parking lot at the scene...

my uncle unknowingly passed a fake 100 dollar bill at a restaurant where he was a regular that later called the police, and the police came to his house and simply asked him if he knew where he got the bill from and he told them it was giving to him by his federal employee credit union, and that was the end..

a fraternity brother of mine passed a fake ten dollar bill unkowingly at a CVS for a bottle of gatorade while skateboarding in the parking lot next door. they called the cops, cops came asked him where he got the bill, and if he had any other way to pay for the gatorade, he told them where he got it from, and that he didn't have any other way to pay for it but gave them the change he had received from the transaction and they left.

What would happen in those cases if the police came up to your brother and asked him about it? Asked him to get into the police car?

What would happen?

There are two posts right above his post that explain it and Cupee posted links twice now.
But everyone else is dishonest...

My guess would be that in 100% of all scenarios: nothing that justifies getting your neck knee'd on for 8 minutes 46 seconds.

probably because they would just comply and get into the back of the car then deal with it later..

he was crying wolf since the start of the interaction and was being extremely erratic

what would you have done in that situation?

I honestly don't know how this is even a discussion at this point tbh what's more sad is that the media had access to the video before everyone else but nobody even said anything..I wonder why lol

Not kneed on his neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds?

“Crying wolf” can’t be used as a justification for killing someone. As a law enforcement officer you don’t get to just not believe someone when they say they can’t breathe or that they are having a medical emergency after you’ve taken them into custody. And you definitely don’t get to then ignore it and put them in further peril.

The idea that Floyd was saying he couldn’t breathe before Chauvin further restricted his airway by kneeling his body weight on Floyd’s neck is more damning than exonerating. This shouldn’t be hard to see.

WTF are you talking about? The guy has his hands behind his back handcuffed with 4 officers on the scene. Put the ankle restraints on him and load him in the back of the car or the ambulance that was on the way.

If you read the transcripts you'll see that Chauvin refused the ankle restraints when offered.

There is literally no scenario that justifies kneeling on a cuffed prone man's neck for 8min 46 secs while he begs for his life. Cops don't even argue this. lvr is in a league of his own.