Sam Curtis, Rayna Sirken and Kyle Sullivan
Staff Writers
On May 25, George Floyd was arrested and killed by Minneapolis police. officer Derek Chauvin. George Floyd, an ordinary 46-year-old black male living in Minneapolis, was accused of buying cigarettes with a counterfeit $20 bill. A local deli owner called 911. A few minutes later, the police show up and arrest Floyd. From one video, it looks as though Officer J. Alexander Kueng, a rookie officer, is questioning Floyd on the sidewalk. In a second video, Floyd is walked to a police cruiser across the street. Later, in a third video, Floyd is seen on the ground being held down by three officers: J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane, another rookie who was on his fourth day in the job, and 18-year veteran Derek Chauvin whose knee was on George Floyd’s neck, crushing his face into the street. After putting his knee directly on Floyd’s neck for almost nine full minutes, Floyd passed away. A private autopsy pronounced him dead from asphyxiation.
Following this tragic and horrific incident, Chauvin was fired and then later arrested and charged with third-degree murder. Chauvin’s bond was set at $ 500,000. It took a few days, but J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane, and Tou Thao—the other officers on the scene—were all arrested and charged with aiding and abetting Derek Chauvin in the commission of murder. The Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison upgraded the charges against Chauvin to second-degree murder, carrying a possible sentence of up to 40 years.
Following this the death of Floyd, many Americans as well as people around the world in places like Amsterdam, London, and Berlin, started to peacefully protest. Chanting certain phrases such as “I can’t breathe,” and “Take a knee with us,” to express their views of the police and the U.S. criminal justice system and the discrimination against all blacks. These peaceful protests started in many large cities such as New York, Dallas, Los Angeles, Minneapolis and spread to the smaller cities and suburbs, including New Hope and neighboring Doylestown.
Then things took a turn for the worse. Riots started brewing all around the nation and some people started looting retail stores and local shops in large cities, usually under the cover of darkness long past the imposed curfews. They stole all types of items from businesses shuttered due to COVID-19 and arsonists burned many buildings in places like Minneapolis, New York, and Philadelphia. The West Philadelphia Police only have one squad car left after all the others were set ablaze. Investigators across the country have been working to ascertain which acts of destruction were done by local residents destroying their own beloved cities and which ones were perpetrated by outsiders who came in with their own destructive agendas. For example, in the community where George Floyd was killed, arsonists torched the police station, but they also burned down the post office, the local library, as well as a number of commercial establishments like the AutoZone and Arby’s.
The violence and looting left the police scrambling to enforce order. President Trump had a conference call with state governors, which was leaked to the New York Times who published the audio. In it, President Trump urged the governors to deploy the national guard into all cities in order to take control.
As a nation everyone needs to come together and respect everyone for who they are and embrace the differences we have together, no matter if were black, white, brown, Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, rich, poor, rural, urban, republican or democrat. We are a nation; we are one big family and everyone needs to come together as one and support each other for what we represent as a country. Instead of destroying our communities, we should come together as the purest form of humanity and uplift our communities and grow them. We should not be judging others but embracing differences, while living, loving, and supporting one another and helping one another as one big family.
