After a jury convicted Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd by choking him to death with his knee, many people said that the verdict would set a precedent that would hold police officers accountable in the future. But they are forgetting what it really took to lead to Chauvin getting charged in the first place.
Why Derek Chauvin Was Charged in the First Place
Ted Rall
Ted Rall is a syndicated political cartoonist for Andrews McMeel Syndication, WhoWhatWhy.org and Counterpoint. He is a frequent contributor to The Wall Street Journal, 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 "The Stringer."
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The People are also forgetting:
1. There is still the appeal process.
2. Chauvin hasn’t been sentenced yet.
3. Once sentenced, it’s quite possible he’ll only serve a fraction of the time.
4. He’s still eligible for his pension.
5. Depending on how careful he was, Chauvin’s house, car, and other substantial assets may be registered in other people’s names.
6. The cops will just get slyer. Body camera malfunctions, “discoveries” of contraband during “routine” traffic stops, and much more aggressive penalties in trials (and the DAs will do as the cops want because, hey, the cops know where they live).
7. In two years, watch for a lot of pretend journalists to use the phrases “Pyrrhic victory” and “no one could have seen the blowback from the Chauvin trial.”
Now, off to moderation forever and ever…
Because that’s pretty much what happened with Dan White (the ex-cop who assassinated San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk in November 1978.) He served very little time in jail, despite the evidence that the double assassination had been pre-planned. Also he claimed he’d committed the assassinations because he ate too much junk food–afterwards known as the “twinkie defense.”
Police now act as agents provocateur whether disguised under cover or in uniform.
Police have become accustomed to acting under the assumption that they ARE the law and that they will be able to continue to operate unaccountably as agents of the state’s monopoly of violence.
Society must decide if the war against the poor should be advanced toward a greater fascism under the law or toward greater equality under the law.
Given that 70% of Americans supported George W Bush’s 2003 criminal war against Iraq without facing any legal consequences, the future of this society is in the very incapable hands of the duopoly.