How the hashtag generation (#GeorgeFloyd) led to multiple guilty verdict of Minneapolis police officer – Derek Chauvin and technology is changing the dynamics of injustice, police brutality and racism in a post-Obama America.
The conviction of the white murderer of George Floyd, a Blackman represents a march to the Promised Land of freedom and justice for all? Or should we thank mobile informatics and new smart phones, which revealed the hidden injustice fed by racism in the USA, the world’s most advanced democracy.
By Professor Chris Imafidon – Most people believe that police brutality is only one symptom of the disease of injustice, which expresses itself in racism. But the atrocities of May 2020 in Minneapolis told the most graphical story even to sceptics and arch-racists. This was due to white police officer Derek Chauvin, aged 45, convicted for the brutal murder George Floyd by kneeling on his neck for nine minutes and twenty-nine seconds. Mr Chauvin did not release him until there was no pulse left even when he cried repeating, “I can’t breathe” more than 20 times.
After just fourteen days of testimony and forty-five witnesses, the jury returned three out of three guilty verdicts. Most observers then breathe more as a relief. Every honest observer held his or her breath for this conclusion. In a comment on one of American’s news network, It wrote at the beginning of the trial that to Knee on the neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds until NO pulse was felt. More than mere police brutality, it’s the definition of man’s inhumanity to man (inhuman violence against unarmed and restrained person!) #DerekChauvin.
Yet on the AFP news agency and other America news outlets, the response to my earlier suggestions that a guilty verdict would be appropriate was attacked by complete strangers without asking for the basis of such comments. The commentator wrote, “I PROUDLY STAND WITH Derek Chauvin” This confirms the endorsement of this act of police brutality born of sheer hatred of another human just because the person looks different.
In June 2012, a postgraduate research student of mine and I published a paper in the International journal of Engineering Science (2-3:388-392) it was titled “THE NEED FOR DIGITAL FORENSIC INVESTIGATIVE FRAMEWORK” In it we stated that,
“Understanding digital forensic procedures will help to capture vital information which can be used to prosecute a suspect that compromises a digital device or network. The majority of organizations rely deeply on digital devices and the Internet to operate and improve their business, and these businesses depend on the digital devices to process, store and recover data. We simply believed that technology would facilitate or dictate justice and gave some evidence.
TECHNOLOGY – TRUTH AND JUSTICE
In the USA, it is an unimaginable rarity for Police officers who kill black people to face prosecution. But the very select few who do, are usually acquitted and sent back to policing all over again. Therefore, it is most important to identify why Mr Derek Chauvin’s three different convictions are making history. Technology changed everything particularly as the video footage of a teenager’s phone was seen by over 1.67 billion times on the Internet. It was no longer the Police’s word against the victim’s. 1) The clarity of the video evidence, 2) the speed of spreading the footage, and 3) the cost of a high quality mobile phone were the BIGGEST contributors to the success of this prosecution and conviction of Derek Chauvin. The union that paid his entire legal fee needs to urgently re-think their action. Using the power of artificial intelligence, thanks to Silicon Valley’s FireFlies.AI you can get FREE copies of the transcripts of this hearing from the first day from my twitter https://twitter.com/ChrisImafidon. This is a direct benefit of technology. Or via Instagram: @COImafidon
COMMUNITY POLICING?
The best strategy for law enforcement is localism. Sadly, this is not the case with most police departments. Mr Chauvin was among the 92% of Minneapolis police officers who live outside their area of control. Fair-minded responsible leaders have been calling for changes to address this anomaly. These advocates have argued that anyone who doesn’t live in the communities they police cannot be able to fully understand.
It interesting that most reports now refer to Officer Derek Chauvin as an Ex-cop. The reporting is in bad taste, if not, why call him a former police officer? He is either a police officer, or a sacked, or dismissed or disgraced Police Officer.
POLICE CONVICTIONS
In America, from 2005 till date, less than 140 police officers have been arrested for murder or manslaughter for an on-duty killing. This means less than nine pro prosecutions annually. However, over 999 fatal police shootings are known every year. Therefore the arrest rate is around 1% percent, and never more than 2% percent.
These figures send a very reassuring message to any uniformed person because it is extremely low. A review of the less than 140 only 44 were convicted (with 42 cases still pending). Most are of lesser charges. Seven officers have been convicted of murder in police shootings since 2005. The tragedy is that the other 37 were convicted on charges ranging from manslaughter to official misconduct, in some cases serving no prison time.
PRESIDENTIAL POSITION
Also one is forced to respectfully disagree with President Biden that this conviction marked a moment of significant change.
It is therefore unfortunate that President Joe Biden said Chauvin’s verdict had the potential to be “a moment of significant change” and added that “he expressed his relief at the result but noted that such verdicts were “much too rare”. “Nothing can ever bring their brother, their father back. But this can be a giant step forward in the march toward justice in America,” If the truth must be stated this is only a baby step because what is needed for a real giant step is a radical root and branch change of all aspects of the justice system.
MINNEAPOLIS MIRAGE
If anything at all, I agree more with Keith Ellison, the Minnesota attorney general who led the prosecution said, “I would not call today’s verdict justice, however, because justice implies true restoration. But it is accountability, which is the first step towards justice.” The key reason why we are here today and were about getting the local police to smash the traditional Blue (Police) wall of collegiate cover-up is technology. The tech for filming; tech for spreading; speed of spreading and capture and the mentality of the hashtag generation.
FAMILY FEELING
Floyd’s family spoke immediately after the verdict was announced, and they were joined by The Revd. Al Sharpton, the civil rights champion, and their lawyer Benjamin Crump. “I feel relieved today that I finally have the opportunity to hopefully get some sleep,” said Philonise Floyd, George’s brother. “A lot of days that I prayed, and I hoped and I was speaking everything into existence. I said, ‘I have faith that he will be convicted’.”
PROTEST PRE-EMPTED
A crowd grew outside the Hennepin County Government Centre in downtown Minneapolis before the verdict. One individual led a familiar chant, shouting, “Say his name”, to which the crowd responded, “George Floyd”. The city authorities anticipated violent protests irrespective of the outcome. The government centre was fully barricaded with a fence topped with wire since March. The National Guard increased troops in the area last week after clashes in the neighbouring area after police shot a 20-year-old black man during a traffic stop. Apparently for having an air-freshener in the rear view mirror or for failing to get the MOT emission test of the car during the pandemic.
JURORS
Six of the twelve jurors were white, four were black and two were multiracial. The trial answered two key questions: 1) Mr Chauvin’s use of force was justified and 2) What was the real exact reason for Floyd’s death. In my previous online contributions to the debate on some of the evidence during the hearing, I was rebuked by pointing out that Mr Chauvin’s defence belief that the toxicology report is the real reason for death. Minneapolis police chief Medaria Arradondo acted as a witness and condemned Chauvin’s actions while defence attorney Eric Nelson said force could be “awful but lawful” and that Chauvin should be judged on what any reasonable officer would have done in similar circumstances. The Prosecution witnesses believe asphyxia as Floyd’s cause of death. Medical examiner Andrew Baker said Floyd died from cardiopulmonary arrest while being restrained.
A lawyer for Chauvin said Floyd died of cardiac arrhythmia, pointing to prior health problems and drug use. For Jada Brown, a Minneapolis protester who supported redirecting police department funding to social services, Chauvin’s conviction was “a first step. I don’t think it’s a victory.”
JUSTICE: ALL OR NONE
One of my Atlanta protégés asked me “If the world acclaimed Bill Cosby was white will he be in jail today? If D Wright was white would he be dead? If Eric Garner was white will police have murdered him and got away with it? If Obama was white will Trump have been elected to succeed him?
In the USA, universal justice for all only exists in the pages of the lexicon, because it has never been seen or experienced by blacks or minorities. This hashtag generation wants to have a taste of justice in education, employment, housing and health etc. Equity is their SOLO dream. However, America now believes in some degree of equity when it comes to sports because a glance at the last three Olympic teams shows a high representation of blacks. Diversity at its best! Based on the figures from Statista (the global data platform), It has been calculated that if the black athletes are withdrawn from the USA Olympic team, the medal tally will be reduced by 63%. If black talents are recognised in sports, why can’t the same talent development apply in education, employment, economics and other fields so that the national success in sports is also achieved in science, education, engineering. It is a huge American loss to both blacks and whites if any community is excluded from contributing to national development because of an outdated model of justice, policing, education etc. [
This is why the various civil right movements, which, protested for justice for George Floyd in 2020, are multi-racial, international and gender-blind. They are the hashtag generation who believe in the immortal words of Dr Martin Luther King Jr that “a threat to justice anywhere is a threat to justice EVERYWHERE. We live in a global village, therefore the French, German, Chinese, Japanese, Scots, Irish and in fact global youths defied their national covid regulations and protested last summer for justice for a total stranger called George Floyd of Minneapolis. They promised to disobey every law if the verdict of Derek Chauvin had gone the usual American way of killing blacks and covering it up in the courts. They did it for Eric Garner, Rodney King but the hashtag generation cannot tolerate the injustice, which their parents have come to accept as the norm. This new generation re-direct widespread rage, civil disobedience and disenfranchisement from our government and political system into a visible unstoppable force thanks to new tools, technology, techniques and thinking. They dished all forms of traditional trademarks that ruined the lives of so many.
Similar to Mr Floyd, Eric Garner, was a black American father of six, who gasped, “I can’t breathe” eleven times as the police suffocated him to death in Staten Island on July 17, 2014.
ROOT IS RACISM
Overt and covert racism significantly affect most institutions and many aspects of American society. The structures and systems were essentially designed to support it for historical reasons, or exploited by racist-minded individuals. Therefore the over eighteen thousand independent police departments must be re-configured and pseudo-centralised. There is now an urgent need for a comprehensive review of the use of force. The tiered system of the National Guard, which belongs to, the Federal government, followed by the state police and then local police is unsuitable for the high tech age. The current qualified immunity for law enforcement needs immediate change. George Floyd’s case is a mild turning point and not a landmark if the serious lessons of technology-enabled justice are not pursued. I acknowledge the over key factors in the success of the prosecution including: 1) Medical experts; 2) Citizen Witnesses 3) Law enforcement and police officer testimonies 4) Excellent prosecution presentations. However, the single biggest factor was the nine minutes and twenty-nine seconds video that avoided another tragedy. This battle is won but the war for justice and policing is not over.
Professor Chris Imafidon, with additional insights from Peter Imafidon, Oxford Bar Society, Oxford and Student Law Panellist, “Legal Advisor” Oxford University Press; & Antoinette-Rita Okoiye, a graduate of LSE and alumnus of Chicago Law School trained Barrister. Founder of Antoinette Rita Chamber
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