Tag Archives: George Floyd

Maxine Waters is right: Chauvin is guilty and we need to step up our action

America and the world waits pensively for the verdict from the jury in the trial of racist ex cop Derek Chauvin who killed George Floyd.

Although the evidence against him was overwhelming given what we all saw with our own eyes, such is the depth of racism in the US that police are still given great leeway in their dealings with black people.

The sad reality is that all black people in the US are seen as a problem to be controlled. This is a mindset that goes back to slavery and continues to underscore the racist attitudes of police but also of many ordinary white people.

Attempts to blame Floyd’s history of drug taking and the impact that may or may not have had on his physiology for his death were desperate, or to suggest that Chauvin acted “reasonably”, were laughable.

But it only takes one jury member to decide there is sufficient doubt in the prosecution case for Chauvin to be acquitted.

Defend Maxine Waters for telling the truth

However, there is another risk that has emerged following comments made by congresswoman Maxine Waters and the interpretation put on them by the judge in the trial.

In an unusual statement from the judge, he explicitly claimed that the statements by Waters attending the scene of the killing of Daunte Wright just 10 miles way from the court, may somehow provide grounds for an appeal seeking mistrial.

Judge Peter Cahill described Waters words as “disrespectful to the rule of law and to the judicial branch”. So what did she say exactly?

Waters merely said she hoped Chauvin would be found “guilty, guilty, guilty”, just like the rest of us.

But if he walked free from the court Waters said, “we’ve got to stay on the street, and we’ve got to get more active. We’ve got to get more confrontational. We’ve got to make sure that they know that we mean business.”

In other words the BLM movement will have to step up the fight. Again, there is nothing controversial in any of this but the racist republicans are now using it as an excuse to indulge in one of their favourite sports: attacking black women.

On this occasion Waters is to be applauded. However it should also be noted how few congressmen and women actually take part in protests on the streets.

Break from the Democrats

Leadership is about taking risks but also speaking truth to power. Waters deserve our support and the support of the rest of the ~Democrtas in Congress. But more than that we need black leaders to take to the streets regardless of the verdict from the jury.

Furthermore, the movement needs to stop putting its faith in Democrat politicians and the left more widely needs to break from that party, which after all has its roots as the vehicle of the slave power for the pivotal moments of US history.

America needs a truly progressive political formation that puts the struggle first not getting elected to office.

Daunte Wright killed by Minneapolis cops for driving while being black

Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old black man is dead after being shot by racist police in a Minneapolis suburb.

The murderous shooting took place during a traffic stop on Sunday and shortly after the man had phoned his mother, Katie Wright, to say he was being pulled over by cops.

The community has risen up in protest against the latest police killing of an innocent black person.

Protests broke out last night and continued into Monday morning, with the Brooklyn Center suburb at the centre of the rebellion.

Underlining the horror of the latest shooting is the fact that it took place a mere 10 miles from where the cop – Derek Chauvin – who murdered George Floyd is on trial, just before the 11th day of that trial.

Justice for Daunte Wright protests met by more violence

As is typical of racist America, the authorities instead of arresting the killer cops, have launched a repressive push back against protesters, firing rubber bullets and other weapons at members of the community.

Brooklyn Center’s mayor has put in place a curfew until 6am

Even with the eyes of the world on the Minneaplos police force, their impunity still knows no bounds.

As is usual for such police crimes, the cops got in their narrative (lies) first.

Chief Tim Gannon of the Brooklyn Center Police Department said that as the traffic stop unfolded the police discovered that there was a warrant out for the arrest of the motorist, as if this was excuse enough for the shooting dead of Wright.

Katie Wright said her son told her he had been pulled over “for having a dangerous air freshner on his car window”.

The ACLU [American Civil Liberties Union] said his mother heard the cops tell him to get out of the car but they refused to say why. Then she heard scuffling followed by gunshots.

The bodycam of the latest police murder has yet to be released, despite calls from family members and the community.

The killing of Duante Wright follows outrage over the treatment by racist police of US Army Lieutenant Caron Nazario, who was assaulted and threatened with being shot by cops in Virginia. Nazario is of mixed Africa-American and Hispanic heritage.

George Floyd murder trial: ‘When I look at George Floyd, I look at my dad’

The trial of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd has put America on trial for its institutional racism.

Already the Chauvin defence strategy is clear – assassinate the character of the victim and insist on the unblemished professionalism of the killer police officer.

In this weird police union world it is not the knee on George Floyd’s neck that killed him but his poor heart condition and alleged drug use.

All this simply piles pain on the family, despite the ‘financial compensation’ they have received from Minneapolis city authorities. But no amount of money will bring George back from the dead.

The trial is expected to last a month and will prove to be both tortuous and painful.

One thing is certain – if the jury fails to convict Chauvin on the second degree murder charge, which is too weak a charge in any case – there will be hell to pay, both in the US and around the world. BLM will make sure of that.

Witnesses to George Floyd’s killing: ‘It seemed like he knew it was over for him’

The most powerful testimony at the first day of the trial came from Darnella Frazier, the teenager who was one of the bystanders filming the murder and is now 18 years old.

Having witnessed the killing, she is still traumatised by the experience and sometimes finds it hard to sleep as she thinks over if it she could have saved George’s life by intervening.

She spoke of how she would lay awake “apologising to George Floyd for not doing more and not physically interacting and not saving his life.”

“When I look at George Floyd, I look at my dad,” she added. “I look at my brothers. I look at my cousins, my uncles because they are all Black. I have a Black father. I have a Black brother. I have Black friends. And I look at that, and I look at how that could have been one of them.”

“It seemed like he knew it was over for him. He was terrified. He was suffering. This was a cry for help, definitely.”

The onlookers at the scene were understandably scared to intervene and noted how all the police on scene refused to respond to warnings from bystanders about the threat to George’s life their restraint clearly showed.

Calling the police on the police

Donald Williams, 33, a mixed martial arts fighter called the police on the police, such were his fears, as he saw the life being squeezed out of George. “I believe I witnessed a murder,” he informed the 911 phone operator.

Genevieve Hansen, 27, was another. witness to the murder. She is a firefighter and just happened to be passing by.

Hansen told the police to check George’s pulse but they told her to go away. “I would have been able to provide medical attention to the best of my abilities, and this human was denied that right,” Hansen stated to the court.

Chauvin’s lawyer Eric J. Nelson tried to claim that the police officers on the scene were being threatened by the small crowd of onlookers.

Hansen probably had the best response to that twisting of the truth: “I don’t know if you’ve seen anybody be killed, but it’s upsetting.”

Another thing that is emerging already from the trial is the bias of the judge, who took issue with several comments from witnesses, telling them not to argue with the court, and admonishing Hansen for daring to point out the trauma of watching someone being killed in front of their eyes.

Minneapolis police killing of Dolal Idd and raid shows their brutal racism

The shooting dead by police of Dolal Idd last Wednesday in Minneapolis was the first since the murder of George Floyd by the same police force.

Police have released a body cam video they say shows that Mr Idd fired first, but he shows no such thing.

All that is seen in the video is the man’s car window blowing out, but that shot could equally have come from the other side of the car as it could from within the vehicle. The police claim a firearm was found in the car.

No further body cams have been released by the police to help to clarify the situation.

Following the killing, police officers descended on the family home of Mr Idd in a raid that has left the Somali-American family shell shocked.

The police forced their way into the home screaming orders, putting teenagers into handcuffs as well as Dolal’s father Bayle Gelle when he came rushing down the stairs after hearing his wife screaming.

The only ones not put into cuffs were the young children. The police did not say what they were searching for and it was only as they were leaving the home that they saw fit to inform the family that Dolal had been killed by police.

The killing by police of Dolal Idd
Raid by militarised police on the family home

Derek Chauvin and other cops in George Floyd murder appear in court

Derek Chauvin and the other three ex Minneapolis police officers involved in the murder of George Floyd appeared in court on Friday.

Chauvin has been charged with first degree murder.

The other three accomplices to the murder of George Floyd – Thomas Lane, J. Kueng and Tou Thao – are charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and manslaughter and are free on bail.

Police defence claims that Floyd died from an overdose although the world saw him die because a policeman had his knee pressed on his neck for 8 minutes and 45 seconds.

As civil rights lawyer Ben Crump put it: ‘The only overdose was an overdose of police force.

The world saw what happened.  ‘Who are you going to believe? Your eyes, or these killer cops?’

The ex cops were greeted with jeers and abuse from protesters when they left the court.

Solidarity with George Floyd

In the UK there were solidarity protests to demand justice for George Floyd on Friday.

Sheffield -“Say his name – George Floyd”

Echoes of George Floyd murder in police killing of Frank Ogboru

Frank Ogboru died after being restrained by police in Calderwood Street Woolwich, London, on 26 September 2006.

Four police officers were on top of Frank, with one at least for some of the time with his knee forced down on his head, when he expired.

Frank Ogboru, a Nigerian businessman, was on a tourist visit to the UK when he met his death.

The full horror is coming to light after an Inquest found that the police had ignored Frank’s cries and he struggled for breath.

“You are killing me, I can’t breathe,” he pleas.

Speaking from Lagos, Mr Ogboru’s widow, Christy said at the time of the killing: “I am crushed. I put my faith in the British system to give me justice but it has failed me. Frank was not a criminal. He did not deserve to die in the street like an animal.”

The Crown Prosecution Service is now reopening the case. Channel Four News has the full story:

https://blacklivesmatteruk.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/WhatsApp-Video-2020-07-11-at-17.35.51.mp4
Channel 4 news investigation into killing of Frank Ogboru

23 arrested as police weaponise Covid laws in failed attempt to intimidate Black Lives Matter protesters

London photo credits: Asmeret

At least 23 peaceful protesters were arrested at the London Black Lives Matter protest, part of wave of solidarity gatherings that swept the country on Sunday.

The cop who murdered George Floyd, Derek Chauvin, has only been charged with third degree murder and none of his three accomplices have been arrested.

Organisers estimate the march at 10,000, with more joining to swell the numbers at different points throughout the day.

Hundreds also marched in Manchester after assembling at St Peter’s Square in the centre of the city.

Protests also took place in Liverpool at St George’s Hall in addition to other cities such as Cardiff, Glasgow, Birmingham and Oxford. There is now a day of action planned on Wednesday as well as further protests this coming weekend.

Vigil in Oxford for George Floyd

Alarmingly, the police arrested peaceful protesters by using Section 7 of the Covid Act, which provides them with powers to arrest people who are social distancing.

March approaches US embassy – white van drivers shows his support

But where was the rest of government adviser, racist Eugenicist Dominic Cummings?

The arrests mostly took place outside the moated US embassy.

Police moved into the crowd a little after 3pm and began to antagonise people. Two of those arrested under Section 7 were Olha Korovina and Raffaello Donnaloia, one of whom was a minor friends told BLMM.

The police refused to say which police station the two would be detained at.

But despite the intimidation of the police, marchers were not deterred.

The day had begun at Trafalgar square at 1pm where thousands congregated, answering the call from a number of BLM organisations.

The chant “Say his name: George Floyd” rang out from the crowd, alongside the passionate insistent shouting of “black lives matter”.

Following the example of NFL star Colin Kaepernick – who “took a knee” in peaceful protest in support of BLM and was ostracised for doing so by the League bosses and abused by Trump who called him a “son of a bitch” in a vicious speech to his rabid supporters – protesters kneeled in unison.

The UK is not innocent

Chanting “I can’t breathe” and the name of Breonna Taylor, killed by US police in March, the marchers moved off down Whitehall to Downing Street.There, marchers continued to chant George Floyd’s name, interspersed with “Fuck Boris” and “The UK is not innocent”.

Arriving at Downing Street

At least three black men have been tasered by police in the UK over the past few weeks. The most recent in Manchester where Desmond Ziggy Mombeyarara was tasered while holding his five-year-old child and a Tottenham youth who was tasered and fell from a wall as a result and now will never walk again.

All this comes on the top of the disproportionate death toll impacting black and minority ethnic communities in both the UK and US.

The UK and US both have among the highest per capita death rates in the world.

At the US embassy protesters chanted “No Trump – No KKK – No fascist USA”, as they called out Trump for urging police to shoot demonstrators.

Speeches from organisers accused the US of being a “failed state, a terrorist state, a racist state” and urged unconditional support for the US rebellion.

Trump was so scared of the protesters in America that he was rushed into a bunker on Friday night as protesters converged on the White House. The Washington DC protests against Trump continue to grow following more incendiary statements by him.

Joining the dots of this rebellion

One speaker reminded the protesters of a speech by Malcolm X when he said: “If they can’t fix their house they shouldn’t have a house. The house should burn down.”

Racist US society is today reaping what it has sowed for so many generations.

At Downing Street: “No justice no peace! The UK is not innocent!”

But a new generation has risen up to again confront America’s systemic racism and social inequality.

With mass unemployment now stalking America, people are starting to connect the dots.

As one demonstrator in New York city who gave his name as Sam B said: “Unemployment is gasoline and then abuse of power is the match,”

Another who was looting said: “If a guy can get away with murdering a guy, I’m pretty sure I can get away with stealing an iPhone, is the attitude.”

The truth is the biggest looters are the rich and the biggest gang of violent criminals are the police whose job it is to maintain racist rule and keep working people in their place. Enough!

London underground driver joins the protests – we have the power!

Some marchers move on to Grenfell Tower in west London where 89 died in a fire because of the poor building standards and fire regulations this government allowed to be introduced to increase the profits of developers.

At the US embassy for a socially distanced protest on Saturday 30 May in the lead up to Sunday’s action

Justice for George Floyd! Protest London Sunday 31 May Trafalgar Square 1pm

#justice4George#justice4breonna – Solidarity with US uprisings against racist police terrorism is needed now more than ever as the US state steps up repression.

Strict social distancing applies –

With the Covid pandemic disproportionately impacting BAME communities, it is imperative that strict social distancing applies at this gathering.


American cities are occupied by militarised police and the National Guard, facing off against overwhelmingly peaceful protesters.

Journalists are being deliberately targeted by police to try and stop the world seeing the extent of their repression.

Shamefully, Democrat politicians have tried to blame protesters for the violence that the police have instigated by firing tear gas and rubber bullets at peaceful protesters.

Protesters have chosen to fight back against the repression. We must support them.

“A riot is the language of the unheard” – Martin Luther King.

Rebellion grows

The uprisings and protests are not the work of “outside agitators”, “foreign influencers” or “urban terrorists”. This is a lie that is preparing the ground for massive violence by the state to try and put down the rebellion.

These are all the same excuses used by the US authorities in the 1960s in response to righteous urban insurrections. The difference today is that the protesters are multiracial.

That really scares the authorities because it shows the potential to ally race and class in a united fight to eradicate racism.

Show your solidarity with the US uprisings against police racism and brutality.

Racism is a 400-year-old problem that will require a revolutionary challenge to the social system for change to come.

The murder of George Floyd follows the murder of Breonna Taylor in her own home by police and the lynching of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia, and are just the latest examples of the reign of terror that black people live under in the US.

Take a knee for George and Breonna

Join this socially distanced protest Trafalgar Square 1pm.

Bring banners and masks. Take a knee

RIP George Lloyd and Breonna Taylor and all murdered at the hands of racist US police. Please observe social distancing.

No justice, no peace.