When George Floyd, 46, was murdered by four police officers in Minneapolis, MN, the effect caused a shockwave impact throughout the nation. As a result, the American public has begun calling out the state and national government, police, and elected officials to eradicate the common occurrences of racially based crimes within America’s justice systems. But before George Floyd’s life was unjustly taken, Breonna Taylor, 26, faced the same fate just two months previously. Just after midnight on March 13, 2020, Jonathan Mattingly, Brett Hankison, and Myles Cosgrove used a ram on the door of Breonna Taylor’s apartment to enter her home where she and her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, lay asleep.…
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George Floyd: the Public Trial
New video footage in the George Floyd murder case involving four Minneapolis police officers on May 25th of this year has surfaced courtesy of the British news outlet, The Daily Mail, who has yet to comment on how they acquired the body cam videos. The murder of George Floyd was caught on camera by multiple bystanders who were present at the scene. When the footage went viral, many were outraged which caused an uproar across the nation and even in many other countries. This unfortunate event has resulted in a vast majority of the public participating in protests, petition signing, fundraising, and contacting their local and state representatives to show…
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Black Lives Matter: The Movement Sweeping the Nation
New York City is one of the many states protesting “Black Lives Matter” throughout the streets of the five boroughs as well as in front of our very own Queens College. The protests began shortly after George Floyd’s death on May 25, he was arrested in Minneapolis, Minnesota and Officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on his neck for almost nine minutes which led to Floyd’s death. The people of Minneapolis rioted the day of Floyd’s death and it has led the Black Lives Matter movement to spread to the 50 states as well as other countries around the world. According to the Black Lives Matter Foundation, “ [the movement] began as…
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A One-Day Trip Back to the Age Before Technology
On Tuesday, June 2, Blackout Tuesday was an initiative to go silent on social media and stand in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter Movement which has grown larger after the recent killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and many others before them from racial prejudice and police brutality. When it first started, these posts had the hashtag #BLM or #BlackLivesMatter. Later in the day, the hashtag was #BlackoutTuesday or #TheShowMustBePaused. The initiative started from music executives Jamila Thomas and Brianna Agyemang who created theshowmustbepaused.com. This was done “in observance of the long-standing racism and inequality that exists from the boardroom to the boulevard.” It was shown as…
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George Floyd: Public Execution in the Modern Age
“I can’t breathe,” were the last words George Floyd, 46, spoke before falling unconscious and eventually dying two minutes and 53 seconds later on May 25 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Moments before this, Floyd was accused of trying to use a ‘fake’ twenty dollar bill to pay for a pack of cigarettes, resulting in the store owner calling the police. Sadly, Floyd was unaware that these next few minutes, his last moments, would be spent facedown on the ground, handcuffed, and pleading for air. Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng, the two responding officers, approached Floyd’s vehicle while Officer Lane already had his weapon drawn. He did not holster his gun…
