Following the death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis, protests erupted around the US and the world calling for an end to police violence against Black communities and systemic racism.
Problems and Purpose
On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a Black 46 year old man living in Minneapolis, was killed by a white police officer who knelt on his neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds in the presence of three other officers. Floyd was unarmed when the police responded to a report that he had paid in a store with a counterfeit note. Floyd's death was witnessed and recorded by bypassers who had also urged police officers to stop what they were doing.
The day after Floyd’s death, the video had been widely shared on social media and protests began in Minneapolis before spreading around the United States and in many other countries.
The motivation and purpose of the protests are multi-faceted. Although Floyd’s killing triggered the initial protests, they are also a response to police brutality and the killing of Black people by police officers and armed civilians in the US and other countries. Protests have also called for an end to systemic and structural racism and white supremacy which creates conditions for Black communities to be discriminated against in every aspect of daily life including health and healthcare, education, the workforce, housing, media and culture, and politics.
Background History and Context
In the United States, Black and Indigenous Americans face a higher risk of being killed by the police than White people, with an estimated risk of 1 in 1,000 for Black men [1]. Police killing of Black people in the US has been well documented in recent years but has resulted in little change. George Floyd’s name is one of many names that are now familiar as victims of police brutality, along with many more individuals whose deaths are less well known. Police violence also sits within a broader historical and legal context of systemic and structural racism, where historically police killings of Black people have typically not resulted in convictions. Minneapolis police department also have a recent history of violence against Black people. Therefore, whilst George Floyd’s death sparked the protests, there is an achingly long history of discrimination and violence against Black communities in the US and other countries that has contributed to the current situation.
The George Floyd protests are also taking place against the backdrop of the global COVID-19 pandemic, in which Black people are more likely to die from COVID-19 than White and other ethnic groups in the US and the UK. Protests where people are standing in close proximity, shouting and chanting, and use public transport to get there, increase the risk of Coronavirus transmission. Moreover, police responses such as the use of tear gas and arresting and incarcerating demonstrators creates further risk of transmission. Whilst the protesters have been criticized for these reasons, public health experts are conflicted over how to advise people because police brutality and COVID-19 are both public health crises that disproportionately affect Black people.
Organizing, Supporting, and Funding Entities
The George Floyd protests are closely connected to the Black Lives Matter movement. BLM is a global network [2] rather than a centralized organization, and local branches have organized protests. However, protests have also been organized by looser connections to BLM and independent organizers. For example, in and around Phoenix alone, protest organizers have been numerous and changing throughout the course of the protests.
Participant Recruitment and Selection
The protests are open to all. Protests have been held in all 50 US states and hundreds of cities across the country and around the world in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Pacific region.
Methods and Tools Used
Protest and social media
What Went On: Process, Interaction, and Participation
Protests began in Minneapolis on May 26, the day after the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. A video of his death was posted on Facebook by a bystander showing the officer kneeling on Floyd’s neck whilst he cried out “I can’t breathe," a phrase now synonymous with the protests and accompanying struggle for justice. The same words had been cried out in 2014 by Eric Garner as he was killed in a similar manner in New York.
The four officers were fired on May 26. The initial protests called for the officers to be arrested. As protests continued in Minneapolis, they also spread to other cities in the US including in Louisville, Kentucky where Breonna Taylor was shot dead by police in March 2020, and in Brunswick, Georgia where Ahmaud Arbery was shot by two civilians whilst jogging in February 2020.
On May 29 Officer Chauvin was charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. However, as hundreds of protests continued across the nation, Chauvin’s murder charge was upgraded on June 4 to second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. The three other former police officers were charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder.
Some of the initial protests involved vandalism, looting, and arson, with police using tear gas and rubber bullets against protesters [3]. The lack of initial action taken against the police officers involved served to escalate protests further [4]. President Trump publicly denounced the protests on May 29, leading Twitter to flag his tweet - for the first time - for glorifying violence.
Following this, the National Guard was deployed to Minneapolis and several other cities. Curfews were also imposed. Incidents of police brutality against protesters emerged, including the use of tear gas against peaceful demonstrators, the fatal shooting of David McAtee, a Black restaurant owner in Louisville, and assault of peaceful protestors, including an elderly white peace activist, Martin Gugino.
On June 2, an initiative started by two Black female music executives to reflect and take action on police brutality and systemic racism, went viral on social media and became known as #BlackoutTuesday.
Protests continued following charges being brought against the four Minneapolis officers, with protesters calling for an array of different goals ranging from small-scale reforms to the dismantling or defunding of the police and prisons. Beyond police violence, protesters also called for an end to white supremacy and the entire legal and social structure that maintains systemic racism [5].
Scale, distribution and diversity of protests
As of June 2020, protests continue around the US and have taken place in every continent except Antarctica. Protests have taken place in all 50 states, and notably in many small, predominantly white or conservative towns and cities. This broad reach makes the George Floyd protests particularly significant and could arguably shape the upcoming US election results, since voting behavior is more likely to be influenced by protests the closer to home they take place [6].
Internationally, protests have drawn attention to local police killings, such as the death of Adama Traoré in Paris. In the UK and elsewhere, demonstrators have also removed or defaced statues of slave traders and owners, leading the Mayor of London to launch a review of the city’s statues and street names and have any with links to slavery removed.
Protesters have employed a range of symbols, chants and imagery as part of the demonstrations, including George Floyd and Eric Garner’s last words, “I can’t breathe”, as well as “Black Lives Matter”, “Say their names” and other slogans. Some protests have included moments of silence and kneeling, whilst others have used silence as another form of protest altogether. In Washington DC, the Mayor commissioned a huge mural with the words "Black Lives Matter" in the street.
The Crowd Sourcing Consortium documents global patterns of protest and is currently collecting data on the George Floyd protests. Here you can view the data and contribute to their ongoing collection.
Protesting during a pandemic
The number of demonstrators present at protests has made social distancing difficult or impossible. In France for example, where current restrictions ban gatherings of more than 10 people, protesters gathered in large numbers in defiance of a police ban on the protests [7]. In the UK, government ministers urged people to maintain social distancing rules but fell short of calling for protesters to stay at home altogether [8]. Likewise in Germany, Angela Merkel called for protesters to remain 1.5 meters apart according to the current regulations. In Genoa, Italy, however, protesters managed to maintain social distancing during a peaceful protest [9].
Influence, Outcomes, and Effects
At the time of writing (June 2020), protests are still ongoing. However, some initial effects can already be discerned.
Firstly, the four officers responsible for Floyd’s death in Minneapolis were arrested and charged as protests were ongoing. Secondly, a majority of Minneapolis’ city council voted to dismantle the police department. This has been a call from the George Floyd protesters and a long-standing call from Black Lives Matter activists for some years [10].
In New York, Mayor Bill de Blasio proposed to cut $1 billion from the city's police department, a U-turn from his previous position. Money will be diverted into social, youth and community services, although how much is currently unclear [11]. This move has been backed by the City Council.
In Los Angeles, members of the City Council are calling for unarmed civilian professionals to handle issues relating to mental health and substance abuse, as opposed to the police. Here, the Mayor has also proposed budget cuts to the police department which are moving forward through the City Council.
In Louisville, Kentucky, the City Council passed 'Breonna's Law', banning 'no-knock warrants' which allowed police to enter somebody's home without warning - which led to the shooting of Breonna Taylor - who was asleep in bed - on 26 March 2020.
Nationally, the Justice in Policing Act 2020 is going through Congress. The bill proposes a number of reforms centering around police accountability such as reduced immunity, greater reporting requirements and a national database for police misconduct.
Analysis and Lessons Learned
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See Also
The show must be paused / Blackout Tuesday
References
[1] Edwards, F., Lee, H and Esposito, M. (2019). Risk of being killed by police use of force in the United States by age, race–ethnicity, and sex.PNAS, 116 (34) 16793-16798. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1821204116
[2] Black Lives Matter. (2020) Black Lives Matter. Available at: https://blacklivesmatter.com/
[3] Taylor, D.B. (2020). George Floyd Protests: a timeline. New York Times. June 9. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/article/george-floyd-protests-timeline.html
[4] Ehrlich, B. (2020). George Floyd and the Minneapolis Protests: a timeline. Rolling Stone, June 5. Available at: https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/george-floyd-timeline-1007252/
[5] Godfrey, E. (2020). The Enormous Scale of this Movement. The Atlantic, June 7. Available at: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/06/protest-dc-george-floyd-police-reform/612748/
[6] Putnam, L., Chenoweth, E. and Pressman, J. (2020). The Floyd protests are the broadest in U.S. history — and are spreading to white, small-town America. Washington Post, June 6. Available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/06/06/floyd-protests-are-broadest-us-history-are-spreading-white-small-town-america/ (Accessed on June 19, 2020).
[7] Sandford, A. (2020). Europe 'can't breathe': Protests continue across the continent in memory of George Floyd. Euro News, June 7. Available at: https://www.euronews.com/2020/06/06/black-lives-matter-protesters-take-to-streets-in-europe-despite-pandemic-restrictions
[8] Hancock, M. (2020). Coronavirus: Mass protests risk spreading disease, says Hancock [video]. BBC News, June 7. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-politics-52955001/coronavirus-mass-protests-risk-spreading-disease-says-hancock
[9] Sandford, A. (2020). Europe 'can't breathe': Protests continue across the continent in memory of George Floyd. Euro News, June 7. Available at: https://www.euronews.com/2020/06/06/black-lives-matter-protesters-take-to-streets-in-europe-despite-pandemic-restrictions
[10] Coleman, A.R. (2020). Minneapolis may be the first city to defund the police. Vox, June 8. Available at: https://www.vox.com/2020/6/8/21283980/minneapolis-defund-the-police-george-floyd-black-lives-matter
[11] Rubinstein, D. (2020). De Blasio vows for the first time to cut funding for the N.Y.P.D. New York Times, June 7. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/07/nyregion/deblasio-nypd-funding.html
(Accessed 17 June 2020).