George Floyd’s Murder—An Open and Shut Case

Mar 29, 2021

Jury selection for the trial of Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin, charged for the murder of George Floyd, is finally complete. It’s now known the jury is composed of nine women and six men; nine of whom describe themselves as white, four as black, and two as mixed race.

How this will play out in their decisions on a verdict is anybody’s guess. Prosecutors and defense attorneys questioned potential jurors endlessly about whether they can be ‘impartial’ in rendering a verdict, how familiar they are with the case, and whether they have sympathies for the murderer or the victim.

How ridiculous! The whole world has seen video of Chauvin with his knee on Floyd’s neck for over nine minutes, with two other cops kneeling on Floyd’s back, and another cop standing guard. All the while Floyd said “I can’t breathe!” and told the cops he was dying. A crowd of onlookers pleaded with them to get off of him, because they were killing him.

It’s been over nine months since George Floyd was killed. The reaction has been international, The world’s population has already judged Chauvin and his partners guilty. Yet without the mass demonstrations involving millions of people in over 2,000 cities around the world, these cops probably wouldn’t even be facing a trial.

The city of Minneapolis admitted as much when it awarded Floyd’s family 27 million dollars to settle their wrongful death lawsuit.

This trial will not bring justice. It can’t bring George Floyd back, nor the countless number of those killed in a long history of racist violence.

There have been times in history, when masses of the population have imposed their will on authoritarian governments. There is, however, no reforming a system based in slavery and exploitation.

The whole society has to be overturned and replaced, with a system that puts life before profit.