{"id":11921,"date":"2021-04-20T02:19:33","date_gmt":"2021-04-20T09:19:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=11921"},"modified":"2021-04-21T09:12:58","modified_gmt":"2021-04-21T16:12:58","slug":"issue-of-the-week-113","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=11921","title":{"rendered":"Issue of the Week: Human Rights"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Chauvin Guilty of Murder in Floyd\u2019s Death<\/em>, The New York Times, April 20, 2021<\/span><\/p>\n

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We had a post planned for today.<\/p>\n

Then it was going to be replaced by another because of events.<\/p>\n

Now this too has been replaced by another because of events.<\/p>\n

Today, a white former police officer has been convicted of the murder of a black man last May, which launched massive protests in the streets of the US unmatched in half a century and supported around the world.<\/p>\n

Our first planned post was about child sexual abuse online, which has become the most visible and exponentially out of control aspect of the worst aspect of child abuse. The Sunday Review in The New York Times featured “Why Do We Let Corporations Profit From Rape Videos?” <\/a>by\u00a0Nicholas Kristof, following-up on his December piece on the same issue–online child pornography, a misnomer for online child sexual abuse. This after the even more wrenching and unprecedented front-page Sunday cover story investigative pieces in the “Exploited”<\/a>\u00a0series in The Times, and follow-ups by\u00a0Gabriel J.X. Dance<\/span> and Michael H. Keller<\/span>\u00a0in late 2019 and 2020. Even more terrifying now, as predicted in the series, is the potential loss of being able to track 70% of the now well over a hundred million of these crimes online (that are trackable) and growing exponentially, which means the inability to stop the rape and molesting of these children online, as reported in The Guardian yesterday, “Facebook encryption plans will hit fight against child abuse”<\/a>.\u00a0Child sex abuse is perpetrated against hundreds of millions a year worldwide. Child abuse in every form is perpetrated against half of all children worldwide according to the World Health Organization, the worst ongoing pandemic in every sense.\u00a0We have reported on this for some time.<\/a>\u00a0April is child abuse month.<\/p>\n

But then, early this morning, it was reported that former Vice-President Walter Mondale died in\u00a0Minneapolis last night.\u00a0We then began a post on this, for the many historical reasons that called for it, which would have been covered at length if we had done so. Here’s some extremely abbreviated and limited references. We worked with and interviewed him years ago. At breakfast with him at the Naval Observatory on one ocassion related to his support for our work on world hunger<\/a>, attendees included Republican senators, a memory of a different era, reflective not only of the bipartisan approach to hunger, but Mondale’s bipartisan instincts. At the start of an interview on another occasion, we asked him how he would like to be addressed on camera. His reply, with a broad grin, “Your Excellency”. He, and we, laughed uproariously. Just as he did when Ronald Reagan likely clinched his victory over Mondale in the 1984 debate with the quip on not using Mondale’s age and inexperience against him, to offset the real (and it turns out really<\/em> real), concerns about Reagan’s age and potential dementia from the previous debate. Mondale was human before political. But a great politician, with enormous accomplishments as senator, vice-president, presidential nominee and ambassador. He was the<\/em> sponsor of the first major federal law on child abuse in 1974,\u00a0The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act<\/em>, that defined abuse and neglect as “at a minimum, any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker, which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse or exploitation, or an act or failure to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm.\u201d That was after he helped get the Civil Rights and Voting Rights and Fair Housing acts passed, helped broker the peace deal between Israel and Egypt as vice-president and was the first presidential nominee in history to select a woman as the vice-presidential nominee. Among others, former Vice-President Gore, former President Obama, President Biden and Vice-President Harris all said of Mondale, the history of the vice-presidency in the US is defined as before and after Mondale<\/em>. That’s because he required basically an equal partnership to accept Jimmy Carter’s invitation to run with him. He got it. And Carter today called him the best vice-president in US history. He may well have been. Amy Klobuchar explains why in her op-ed in The New York Times<\/a> today. And his obituary<\/a> appeared ready to run front page today.<\/p>\n

Then something else happened today in Minneapolis.<\/p>\n

A former police officer, Derek Chauvin, was convicted of all three charges–second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter–for killing George Floyd, on May 25, 2020.<\/p>\n

A video taken by a 17 year-old girl, Darnella Frazier, with her cell phone, of the murder of George Floyd, changed the world that day, and led to the conviction today.<\/p>\n

The issue of systemic racism and police abuse was front and center, but many activists quickly began to point to the convergence of racism, sexism, homophobia and all other such biases and inequality, human rights abuses against anyone, and classism with the relationship to power and the lack of it in terms of economic security, health care, housing and other social justice issues related to basic human needs. And the revelation once again during the pandemic that by many measures, Black lives mattered least.<\/p>\n

The importance or impact of all this would seem impossible to overstate. We covered the events at the time at length in our post\u00a0The End Of Civilization As We Knew It, Part Nineteen<\/em><\/a>\u00a0on June 4th.<\/p>\n

The cover story of The New York Times, online now and in print tomorrow under the title of\u00a0Chauvin Guilty of Murder in Floyd\u2019s Death<\/em>, follows.<\/p>\n

As does an article on the 17 year-old girl who changed the world.<\/p>\n

There are many other linked articles on the front page. The news is fresh and there is no time to comment further. And no reason at the moment. The story is well-known. And the articles report the historic news today:<\/p>\n

“Chauvin Guilty of Murder in Floyd\u2019s Death”<\/a><\/p>\n

By <\/span>John Eligon,\u00a0<\/span>Tim Arango,\u00a0<\/span>Shaila Dewan<\/span> and Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, April 20, 2021, The New York Times<\/span><\/p>\n

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A jury deliberated for just over 10 hours before pronouncing Mr. Chauvin guilty on all three charges: second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.<\/em><\/p>\n

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A celebration at George Floyd Square in Minneapolis after Derek Chauvin, a former police officer, was found guilty of murder on Tuesday.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Victor J. Blue for The New York Times<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n
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MINNEAPOLIS \u2014 A former police officer who pressed his knee into George Floyd\u2019s<\/a> neck until well past Mr. Floyd\u2019s final breath was found guilty of murder on Tuesday in a case that shook the nation\u2019s conscience and drew millions into the streets for the largest racial justice protests in generations.<\/p>\n

The verdict, which could send the former officer, Derek Chauvin<\/a>, to prison for decades, was a rare rebuke of police violence, following case after case of officers going without charges or convictions after killing Black men, women and children.<\/p>\n

At the center of it all was an excruciating video, taken by a teenage girl, that showed Mr. Chauvin, who is white, kneeling on the neck of Mr. Floyd, who was Black, for nine minutes and 29 seconds as Mr. Floyd pleaded for his life and bystanders tried to intervene. Mr. Floyd repeated \u201cI can\u2019t breathe\u201d more than 20 times during the encounter.<\/p>\n

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George Floyd died last year after being pinned to the ground by Mr. Chauvin and other officers.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Offices of Ben Crump Law<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The video, played on a horrifying loop for the past year, triggered more than calls for changes in policing. It stirred Americans of all races, in small towns and large cities, to gather for mass protests, chanting \u201cBlack lives matter\u201d and challenging the country to finally have a true reckoning over race. Their demands reverberated within the walls of institutions that had long resisted change, from corporate America to Congress.<\/p>\n

This week, over the course of two days, a racially diverse jury of seven women and five men deliberated for about 10 hours before pronouncing Mr. Chauvin guilty on all three charges: second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.<\/p>\n

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[Video at article link above. From Rodney King to George Floyd: Reliving the Scars of Police Violence<\/em>.\u00a0<\/span>The murder trial of Derek Chauvin is at the center of a national reckoning on race and policing. But cycles of protests over systemic racism and policing are not new. We watched the trial with the families of Rodney King, Oscar Grant and Stephon Clark to see this moment in history through their eyes.]<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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President Biden praised the verdict in a nationwide address at the White House but called it a \u201ctoo rare\u201d step to deliver \u201cbasic accountability\u201d for Black Americans.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a murder in full light of day, and it ripped the blinders off for the whole world to see,\u201d Mr. Biden said. \u201cFor so many, it feels like it took all of that for the judicial system to deliver just basic accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Hours before the jury came back with a decision, Mr. Biden had taken the unusual step of weighing in, telling reporters that he was \u201cpraying\u201d for the \u201cright verdict.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis can be a giant step forward in the march toward justice in America,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

After the verdict, Philonise Floyd, one of Mr. Floyd\u2019s younger brothers, spoke at the Hilton hotel in downtown Minneapolis. \u201cWe are able to breathe again,\u201d he said, holding back tears.<\/p>\n

He drew a line from his brother back to Emmett Till, a Black child who was lynched in Mississippi in 1955. \u201cWe ought to always understand that we have to march,\u201d he said. \u201cWe will have to do this for life. We have to protest because it seems like this is a never-ending cycle.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Mr. Floyd\u2019s brother Philonise Floyd, left, and Benjamin Crump, a lawyer for his family, after the guilty verdict.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Aaron Nesheim for The New York Times<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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People gathered at the intersection where Mr. Floyd was killed, now known as George Floyd Square, and the word \u201cGuilty\u201d rippled throughout the crowd after the verdict was announced, prompting cheers and sobs. The crowd began to chant, \u201cBlack lives matter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Chauvin, who had been free on bail during the trial, was ordered into custody by the judge, Peter A. Cahill, and was taken out of the courtroom in handcuffs.<\/p>\n

The verdict was hailed across the country by civil rights leaders and honking motorists. It gave a tense nation a moment to exhale, even as recent police killings in a Minneapolis suburb, Chicago and, on Tuesday afternoon, Columbus, Ohio<\/a>, sent Americans back into the streets, holding signs that asked, \u201cHow many more?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The case was handled by the office of Attorney General Keith Ellison, the first Black man to hold statewide office in Minnesota. Prosecutors mounted perhaps the most ambitious and extensive case in any trial of an officer for an on-duty killing.<\/p>\n

With a rotating cast of prominent lawyers, some of whom volunteered their services, the state presented 11 days of testimony from onlookers, paramedics, fellow police officers and a phalanx of medical experts armed with formulas, charts and timelines.<\/p>\n

Among the state\u2019s star witnesses was the chief of the Minneapolis police, Medaria Arradondo, who said Mr. Chauvin had \u201cabsolutely\u201d violated training, ethics and several department policies when he kept Mr. Floyd pinned facedown on the street long after he stopped breathing. It is exceedingly rare for a chief to testify against an officer from his own department.<\/p>\n

The presumptive sentence for the most serious charge, second-degree murder, is 12.5 years, according to Minnesota\u2019s sentencing guidelines. But the prosecution has asked for a lengthier sentence, arguing that there were children present at the scene, that Mr. Chauvin treated Mr. Floyd with \u201cparticular cruelty\u201d and that he \u201cabused his position of authority.\u201d<\/p>\n

The judge will sentence Mr. Chauvin, 45, in eight weeks.<\/p>\n

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Mr. Chauvin was led out of the courtroom in handcuffs and will be sentenced in eight weeks.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Still image, via Court TV<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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George Floyd<\/a>, 46, was a grandfather, a rapper known as Big Floyd and a security guard who had lost his job during the coronavirus pandemic. On the day he died \u2014 May 25, 2020 \u2014 the Minneapolis police responded to a call saying that he had used a counterfeit $20 bill to buy cigarettes at a corner store, Cup Foods.<\/p>\n

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The Trial of Derek Chauvin \u203a<\/a><\/div>\n

Latest Updates<\/a><\/h2>\n
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April 21, 2021, 10:17 a.m. ET<\/span>34 minutes ago<\/span><\/div>\n

34 minutes ago<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n