Reflections on the Effects of Systemic Racial Biases in America

The American criminal justice system has continuously failed to hold police officers accountable for excessive force against Black Americans. It is hard to ignore the injustices so many Black Americans face today. In the middle of a global pandemic, yet again we mourn the death of an unarmed Black man, George Floyd. On May 25th, 2020, Officer Derek Chauvin along with two additional officers pinned Floyd to the ground with Chauvin’s knee compressed on his neck for eight minutes, ultimately killing him. Two medical examiners— one hired by the family of George Floyd and the other hired by Hennepin County— have concluded his death was a homicide. Four days later, Minnesota’s Hennepin County District Attorney Mike Freeman announced that after reviewing video evidence and autopsy reports, his office “does not have enough evidence to criminally charge the four police officers” with his death— setting off what would be days of national outrage and protest. As of today, Officer Chauvin has been the only officer charged with his death, the case has since then been handed over to the Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison for prosecution.

As we’ve seen with previous cases of fatal police brutality, it is unlikely that all of the officers involved will be held accountable for their actions. Not only is it important to seek justice for Floyd and many before him, but it’s more important that the American legal system works harder to eradicate systemic racial bias.

Alexandra Kirton and Tasia Hawkins shed a light on the racial inequalities their family has faced, how non-Black allies can engage in these conversations, along with their experience on what it’s like to be Black in America.

 

TRANSCRIPT:

0:00: Welcome from hosts Rhea and Luisa

0:34: Message from Tiffany Rose Miller, Editor-in-Chief of The Wagner Review

3:50: Luisa Introducing speakers Alexandra Kirton and Tasia Hawkins

16:47: Wrap up

 

RESOURCES TO DONATE:

• ACLU – Call for Justice for George Floyd
• Black Lives Matter
• Black Visions Collective
• Brooklyn Community Bail Out Fund
• National Bail Out
• Until Freedom
• Justice League NYC
• Reclaim the Block