The George Floyd Riots

It’s said that ‘you have to look back to see where we are and where we are going’.

In the latest collision between US police officers and black men, George Floyd died at the hands of Minneapolis police. For 8 minutes and 46 seconds, Derek Chauvin pinned Floyd’s neck to the ground all captured on video by a passerby. Chauvin has since been charged with second degree murder – but only after protests exploded in Minneapolis where angry demonstrators took to the streets to bring attention to institutionalized racism in the police. These demonstrations have spread across the world.

Many of the US governors have claimed that the violence and looting is being done by groups and people from outside the state. US President Donald has threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act, that allows the US government to send in troops to quell a domestic uprising. This act has not been used since the 1992 Rodney King riots in LA.

On this issue of the Unpublished Café, we look at the relationship between police and black men, and the possibility of other groups using the violence to advance their own agenda.