African Americans still distrust police 2 years after murder of George Floyd

HOUSTON, Texas (AA) – The senseless killing of George Floyd by a police officer two years ago in the US state of Minnesota is still vivid in the minds of African Americans.

On May 25, 2020, former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin, who is white, placed his knee on the back of Floyd’s neck for nine excruciating minutes, during an arrest, until Floyd, who is Black, died.

Chauvin is currently serving 22 years in prison for Floyd’s murder.

In the immediate aftermath of Floyd’s murder, the Minneapolis Police Department changed some of its policies, including banning chokeholds and neck restraints, which Chauvin used on Floyd.

The department also authorized officers to intervene if they see fellow officers engaging in unauthorized force.

Less than a year after Floyd’s murder, Minnesota suffered another high-profile killing of a Black man at the hands of a white police officer in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Center.

“We can’t continue to have bad apples. We need a process to weed out those bad apples before they are placed in the community,” said 41-year-old Kendrick Thomas of Houston, Texas. “If a pilot of an airplane was a bad apple, think about how many people would die.”

Thomas, an African American, told Anadolu Agency he believes corrupt white police officers are the exception rather than the rule but stressed that unless the problem is addressed head-on by police departments nationwide, high-profile cases of police brutality against African Americans will continue.

Those who cheer on the Black Lives Matter bandwagon in times of tragedy have to follow through with real work, he urged.

“Everybody who was on the ‘rah rah’ George Floyd train when he passed (away) – I want to see those same people going into the community and making real change to make sure there isn’t another George Floyd,” said Thomas, adding that police departments need to re-prioritize how they deal with communities of color.