The murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin set off Black Lives Matter protests last summer. Now Chauvin is on trial and, as expected, his defense team is trying to spin the inexplicable into the justifiable.
Protect and Serve
Ted Rall
Ted Rall is a syndicated political cartoonist for Andrews McMeel Syndication and WhoWhatWhy.org and Counterpoint. He is a contributor to Centerclip and co-host of "The Final Countdown" talk show on Radio Sputnik. He is a graphic novelist and author of many books of art and prose, and an occasional war correspondent. He is, recently, the author of the graphic novel "2024: Revisited."
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I’m pretty sure Chauvin’s going to get convicted for this. At least at this trial. I suspect the verdict has a fair chance of being reversed on appeal on a procedural ground (i.e., everyone’s attention will have wandered off by then).
But we’re all (at least most of us) forgetting a couple of things:
1. Three (count ’em, three) cops formed a protective cordon so that Chauvin could choke the life out of George Floyd.
2. Even after people in the crowd shouted at them to check for a pulse, start CPR, etc., those three cops did nothing. Not one of them put a hand on Chauvin and told him to take his knee off.
The problem isn’t Chauvin, it isn’t the three aiding and abetting goons. It’s how cops are trained, it’s what sort of personality is attracted to being a cop, it’s an indifferent system made up of careerists who sell out their own communities and everyone else’s to get ahead.
The only “improvement” that will come from all this is that the cops will get craftier. I also expect a rise in “unexplained” body cam malfunctions.
Look for the Union Label.
Half a decade after a spate of officer-involved deaths inspired widespread protest, police unions dig in to defend members.
This is why bad cops are not fired and get away with murder.
You got it right: “To Protect & Serve — Capital, Our Lord High Poobah”