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Let it Be
Shaking loose charges against the watchers or a heavier charge against the killer might interfere with what justice can be had.
Since the entire tragedy has been playing out for only a week, it’s possible to offer a short summary for those who slept through it.
On Sunday, May 24, Minneapolis police answered a call claiming an individual was trying to pass a fake $20 bill at Cup Foods, a small and family-owned business at the same location for over 30 years.
Police confronted a 46 year old African-American, George Floyd, outside the store. The police claim that he resisted them, a claim that is not borne out by surveillance video or by the statement of the co-owner of the store. Floyd was handcuffed with little trouble. After his hands were cuffed behind him, Floyd needed somebody on each side to steer him and keep him on his feet.
When he fell down for the second time next to the police cruiser, Officer Derek Chauvin placed a knee on Floyd’s neck and appeared to settle the weight of his body on that knee. Floyd uttered the words made infamous by Eric Garner, another unarmed black man who died at the hands of New York police in 2014 — “I can’t breathe!” in frantic tones between begging to be let up and at one point asking for his mother. It was determined later that…
