Paul Brooks: George Floyd's death could be the final straw in the US

COMMENT

Was George Floyd's death the final straw?

The black man died when a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for eight minutes, choking him, even while he cried out, "I can't breathe!"

Those words, George Floyd's last, have become a catch-cry, chanted during protests and written on T-shirts.

Protests have ranged from peaceful to riotous and Presidential condemnation of any kind of reaction has attracted negative commentary from many.

The police officer who was allegedly involved in Mr Floyd's death has been charged with murder, but the protests and riots are not just about this one fatality: they represent a people sick and tired of seeing black people die at the hands of US police officers, often without reasonable justification, and in a land where the gun is a fashion accessory, that's saying something.

It has become an extension of the Black Lives Matter movement, drawing large numbers of people who would not normally take to the streets to vent their disgust at a system so badly flawed.

It's not only rent-a-crowd out there venting their anger and outrage, but ordinary, honest American citizens who see the problem as so completely out of hand that it can only be stopped by another democratic right, the right to protest.

George Floyd was arrested at gunpoint after allegedly using counterfeit money in a nearby deli. The young man who served him followed store protocol and called the police who found Mr Floyd in a car parked not far away.

The police officer drew his gun – not sure why – arrested Mr Floyd and handcuffed him.

Resisting arrest was his next alleged crime, but all of his alleged crimes accrued do not, as far as my limited legal knowledge goes, warrant the death penalty, especially carried out by a policeman who had sworn to "protect and serve" the people of Minneapolis.

George Floyd died in handcuffs, on the road, with an officer of the law kneeling on his neck.

He is not the only person to die in police custody and statistics suggest black people are far more likely to die at the hands of American police than any other race, although no race is exempt.

Take the white Australian woman who was shot dead by US police after she had called them for help.

Now, finally, after years of provocation and lack of real government response, people are showing how angry they are.

No, these are not the first protests but the evidence suggests they could have the most impact.

Because they are not confined to Minneapolis and are not just by members of Black Lives Matter, and because they are spreading across the US, this could be the tipping point for a perceived gun-happy, racist police force.

There is a culture of shoot first, ask questions later in many of the cases, a trend that makes people in other countries oppose arming their own police.

What's gaining attention is the damage caused and level of violence in the latest protests, but the people of the US have tried years of peaceful protests in vain.

Their voices are not being heard and too many people are still dying at the hands of the police, many of them innocent of any crime.

None of us should condone the destruction taking place, but what do people have to do before something is done? The frustration and anger must reach a point where something gives. It's given.

President Trump has told the police to get tough with protesters. They were tough, too tough. That's the problem. Now the rest of the country is paying for it.

And it's also happening at a time when the Covid-19 virus is killing US citizens at an alarming rate.

Even with more than 100,000 dead so far, do the authorities expect protesters to observe social distancing and hand sanitising while they're burning police cars and trashing retail districts?

It's a mess and the mess is spreading nationwide.

No wonder SpaceX astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley have chosen to leave Earth and spend some quiet time on the International Space Station. Who could blame them?

Could protests similar to those in the US happen here?

Actually, I doubt it. Not just because the policemen and women I know are not capable of such actions, but because I don't think New Zealanders would allow it.

Our police force is too involved with the ordinary folk of our community to develop a culture so alien to that of our society as that in the States.

Long may that continue to be so. If we allowed them to carry sidearms, would that change things?

If our police were noticeably armed – like our Australian cousins – would we see a difference in the way we act towards them and they towards us?

Again, I doubt it very much, unless that fact attracted the wrong kind of police recruit, but there are enough checks and balances in the recruitment system to prevent them getting into uniform.

We are lucky here, with coronavirus and with our relationship with our guardians of the law.

But that doesn't mean we shouldn't look across to the US and worry about them, feel for them and hope the mess is resolved with satisfaction for all.