Start of significant change?
There’s no doubt that the jury’s decision in the Derek Chauvin trial is historic. But let’s revisit how long it has taken: the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964 and was followed by cops beating up marchers in 1965 at Selma, with little or no legal action taken against the cops; and Rodney King was beaten by LA cops in 1991, with getting off free. Finally, after about sixty years of police violence against Black men and boys, a cop is convicted. Is this the start of significant change, a change leading to police realizing that there’s a bias against non-white Americans, specifically blacks? I hope so.
All my life this has been going on. At first I was distracted by another war in Vietnam, but violent police tactics motivated by racist, antiquated policing protocols and academy training has been plaguing the US for years. Ever since Vietnam, I’ve been afraid of police and sheriff’s deputies dressed in riot gear, but I could always imagine the fear a Black man must face. It always seemed to me that baby steps were taken to improve the situation, often followed by big steps back.
To paraphrase Will Smith, there’s always been racism and racist violence in America. The difference now is that sometimes a video record will show us how trivial offenses can often escalate to murder, more so for Blacks and other minorities than for whites. That has been going on since before the Civil War and continues even with that Civil Rights Act. It’s as if we’re still fighting the Civil War. Frankly, it’s tearing the US apart at the seams and has helped divide this country into the new North and South, i.e. blue states vs. red states. Of course, that current division is more about fascist mentalities (the Good Ole Piranhas) versus reasonable people (we liberals and progressives who are the GOP’s enemy).
But fascists in America, as all fascists do, look for scapegoats to blame all their failures on. They’ve added Blacks and minorities to their hate list. “It’s us versus them,” they say, and tell the big lies blaming them and anyone defending them. This is what Hitler and his Nazi party did in 1930s Germany, and it’s no different here.
It’s sad that Mr. Floyd was murdered in the north, because fascist racists aren’t as prevalent there, as elections have shown. Never doubt it: Derek Chauvin was the fascist racist in this case! I don’t know why it didn’t come out in the trial, but Floyd and Chauvin were nightclub bouncers. Perhaps he had a personal hatred for Floyd, but his arrogant expression of fascist power easily seen in the video record tells most of the story: for whatever reason, Chauvin became a fascist racist and a murderer. Most people in Minnesota aren’t like that. That happens more in the south.
But it can happen anywhere twisted minds can wield power. They said the trial wasn’t about who Chauvin was but what he did. Okay, but it was certainly about who he was in the sense that it was about who he became, a fascist racist willing to do violence from a position of authority. He ended up as a non-human monster.
As long as such monsters become police, I’m afraid there will be no significant change. Police training and protocols must be modified so that fascist monsters cannot hide in the ranks of officers who want to be part of the community and help the citizens they serve.
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Comments are always welcome.
Origins: The Denisovan Trilogy, Book One, by A. B. Carolan. Kayla Jones has dreams she can’t understand. Her future seems determined as the brilliant STEM student who looks forward to a research career, but her past gets in the way. As if the chaos afflicting the world and leading to her adopted father’s death wasn’t enough, killers begin to pursue her. With some friends who come to her aid, she’s on her way to discover a conspiracy that can be traced to prehistoric battles waged by hominins bent on conquest of a primitive Earth. Available at Smashwords and all its affiliated retailers (iBooks, B&N, Kobo, etc.) and library and lending services (Scribd, Overdrive, Gardners, etc.).
Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!
