Reckoning on police violence left in limbo

MINNEAPOLIS — The murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, and the fervent protests that erupted around the world, looked to many observers like the catalyst needed for a nationwide reckoning on racism in policing in the United States.

For more than nine minutes, a white officer pressed his knee to the neck of Floyd, a black man, who gasped, "I can't breathe", echoing Eric Garner's last words in 2014. Video footage of Floyd's murder on May 25, 2020, was so agonizing to watch that demands for change came from across the country.

Around the world, protests against racial violence and police brutality erupted after Floyd's murder, reigniting the Black Lives Matter movement. Videos circulated on social media of US police using tear gas and less lethal munitions like rubber bullets, fueling calls for accountability.

But in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic uncertainty and a divisive US presidential election, 2020 ended without the kind of major police reforms that many hoped, and others feared, would come. And 2021 and 2022 also failed to yield much progress.

Now, three years since Floyd's death, proponents of federal actions — such as banning chokeholds and changing the so-called qualified immunity protections for law enforcement — still await meaningful signs of change. The beating death of Tyre Nichols at the hands of Memphis police in January underscored just how long it could take.

Massachusetts Representative Ayanna Pressley said during a recent news conference convened by a Black Lives Matter collective that she sees no evidence of a "racial reckoning".

Epic proportion

"I don't play with words like 'reckoning'," Pressley said. "That needs to be something of epic proportion. And we certainly have not seen a response to the lynching, the choking, the brutality, (and) the murder of black lives."

Soon after Floyd's murder, Minneapolis adopted a number of changes, including bans on chokeholds and neck restraints, and requirements that police try to stop fellow officers from using improper force. Minnesota lawmakers approved statewide police accountability packages in 2020 and 2021, as well as tight restrictions on no-knock warrants this month.

The city is still awaiting the results of a federal investigation into whether its police engaged in a "pattern or practice" of unconstitutional or unlawful policing. A similar investigation by the state Department of Human Rights led to what it called a "court-enforceable settlement agreement" in March to revamp policing in the city.

More than 100 people gathered on Thursday night at George Floyd Square, the corner where Floyd died. The event to remember Floyd included music and dancing, and a candlelight vigil was planned. Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara stopped by and talked with people in the crowd, raising his fist in solidarity at one point.

Earlier in the day, hundreds of flowers and signs swayed in the wind between towering statues of fists at the square. Kendrick White and Georgio Wright, two black men, said they visit the site every day and lead "pilgrimage guides", or tours, to spread awareness about what happened.

Governor Tim Walz declared "George Floyd Remembrance Day" on Thursday in Minnesota, proclaiming, "True justice for George Floyd will come only through real, systemic change to prevent acts like this from happening again."

Agencies via Xinhua