George Floyd - The African Mirror

Mar

2024

Colonial statues in Africa have been removed, returned and torn down again – why it’s such a complex history

In 2020, the murder of George Floyd in the US served as a catalyst for the global Black Lives Matter movement. It sparked widespread protests against police brutality and systemic racism. It also ignited debates about historical symbols of oppression, such as statues of figures associated with racial injustices. SOPHIA LABADI, Professor of Heritage, University of Kent These debates presented colonial statues in Africa as having been contested and toppled for many years, ever since African states gained independence. Indeed, colonial statues were at the heart of the colonial world, symbolising its violence, white supremacy and the erasure of pre-colonial…

Nov

2023

By The African Mirror

Former officer convicted in death of George Floyd attacked in prison, official confirms

WORLD

DEREK Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted in the death of George Floyd, was attacked in a prison in Arizona, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison confirmed. The Associated Press earlier reported Chauvin had been stabbed and seriously injured on Friday. "I am sad to hear that Derek Chauvin was the target of violence," Ellison said in an emailed statement. "He was duly convicted of his crimes and, like any incarcerated individual, he should be able to serve his sentence without fear of retaliation or violence." He did not give further details. Chauvin is serving a 21-year federal sentence for violating Floyd's…

Sep

2021

By The African Mirror

Derek Chauvin to appeal his conviction, sentencing in death of George Floyd

WORLD

AKRITI SHARMA FORMER Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin has filed an intent to appeal with the Minnesota state appellate court in his murder conviction for the death of George Floyd. A jury found Chauvin, who is white, guilty in April of unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the death of Floyd, a Black man. The verdict was widely seen as a landmark rebuke of the disproportionate use of police force against Black Americans. The video of Chauvin kneeling on the neck of the handcuffed Floyd for more than eight minutes during the arrest caused outrage around the…

Sep

2021

By The African Mirror

Chauvin, convicted in Floyd’s murder, pleads not guilty to violating teen’s rights

WORLD

THE former Minneapolis police officer convicted of murdering George Floyd has pleaded not guilty to violating a teenager's civil rights by using a neck restraint similar to the one that killed Floyd, a Black man whose death galvanized a national protest movement against racism. In the current case, the former officer, Derek Chauvin, who is white, stands accused of violating the rights of a then-14-year-old Black boy in 2017 by hitting him with a flashlight and holding a knee on his neck while he was prone, handcuffed and not resisting arrest. Chauvin, now imprisoned for 22-1/2 years for Floyd's murder,…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

Ex-police officer Derek Chauvin sentenced to 22-1/2 years for George Floyd murder

WORLD

NICHOLAS PFOSI and JONATHAN ALLEN A Minnesota judge sentenced former police officer Derek Chauvin to 22-1/2 years in prison on Friday for the murder of George Floyd during an arrest in May 2020 on a Minneapolis sidewalk, video of which sparked global protests. A jury found Chauvin, 45, guilty on April 20 of unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter after a trial that was widely seen as a landmark in the history of U.S. policing. Before the sentence was handed down, Floyd's brothers told the court of their anguish, Chauvin's mother insisted on her son's innocence, and Chauvin…

May

2021

By The African Mirror

George Floyd’s family lobbies Biden for U.S. police reform

WORLD

JEFF MASON and NICK PFOSI A year after his killing unleashed a national reckoning over racial injustice, George Floyd's relatives met with President Joe Biden at the White House and with lawmakers on Capitol Hill to urge passage of police reform legislation in their loved one's name. Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man who died in handcuffs with a white Minneapolis police officer kneeling on his neck for over nine minutes, became the face of a national movement challenging police brutality and bias in the U.S. criminal justice system. His dying words, "I can't breathe," have echoed as a slogan in…

May

2021

By The African Mirror

What has changed a year after George Floyd’s death?

WORLD

ANASTASIA MOLONEY IN the year since the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man who died after a police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes, people worldwide took to the streets to protest against racism amid renewed calls for reforms in U.S. law enforcement. Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of murdering Floyd in April, a milestone in the fraught racial history of the United States and a rebuke of law enforcement's treatment of Black Americans. But what tangible change has happened to address racial inequality in the United States since Floyd's murder? The…

May

2021

By The African Mirror

Grand jury indicts four former police officers in George Floyd’s death

WORLD

A federal grand jury in Minneapolis has indicted four ex-police officers involved in the arrest and death of George Floyd on charges they violated Floyd's civil rights while detaining him last year, according to court documents unsealed on Friday. The three-count indictment names Derek Chauvin, Tou Thao, Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane as defendants and charges them with depriving Floyd of his constitutional right not to be deprived of liberty without due process under the law, which includes his right to not have his medical needs ignored. "The defendants saw George Floyd lying on the ground in clear need of…

Apr

2021

By The African Mirror

After milestone police verdict, Minneapolis lays to rest another Black man

WORLD

NATHAN LAYNE TWO days after a Minneapolis jury found a white police officer guilty of murdering George Floyd, the city will lay to rest Daunte Wright, another Black man whose violent death has raised fresh concerns over the way police treat people of colour. The funeral for Wright, 20, who was shot by a white police officer in a Minneapolis suburb on April 11 after a routine traffic stop, will be attended by a number of high-profile civil rights activists as well as family and friends. The service is scheduled to begin at 12 p.m. CDT (1:00 p.m. ET) at…

Apr

2021

By The African Mirror

‘Last Straw’: Americans confront racism, violence in Chauvin trial

WORLD

THE trial and conviction of former Minneapolis policeman Derek Chauvin for murdering George Floyd came with America at a crossroads, a moment of anguish, but also of possibility, which historians and activists compared to the Civil Rights era. From policing and race relations to the criminal justice system, the three-week trial of Derek Chauvin became "a symbol and stand in for our emotions, our fears and our hopes surrounding this whole set of issues," said David Greenberg, a professor of history and media studies at Rutgers University. The audience for the trial was hard to measure, but likely vast because…