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The selection of the jury for the trial against former white police officer Derek Chauvin, accused of premeditated murder for the death of African-American George Floyd, will begin on Monday. Videos of the Minneapolis incident last May sparked protests around the world. VOA’s Mike O’Sullivan reports that the trial follows the anniversary of another high-profile incident of racial tensions in Los Angeles 30 years ago.
The fired police officer was seen in a nearly 9-minute video with his knee on the neck of African-American George Floyd, who died at the hands of police. The officer, Derek Chauvin, is charged with manslaughter and unintentional homicide. Three other former police officers are charged as accomplices and are being tried separately.
Minneapolis is calm now, but the community is still tense from the murder of African-American George Floyd, says a local religious leader. “The city is preparing for riots or protests that could occur when the trial begins,” said Makram El-Amin, a religious leader at the Masjid An-Nur Mosque in Minneapolis.
Meanwhile in Los Angeles, the 30th anniversary of the police beating incident of African-American driver Rodney King is being marked. Following a court decision to acquit four police officers accused of excessive use of force, violence erupted in the city that left more than 60 dead and caused $ 1 billion in property damage.
This has been repeated in other cases. “I was in Los Angeles when the police beat Rodney King and I said if no one is punished for this, what will happen later? “And that continues to happen,” said actor Jamie Foxx. The assassination of African-American George Floyd sparked protests across the United States and around the world, from Britain to Senegal.
“Many things have changed,” he said. But many other things have not changed yet. The number one thing that has not changed enough is responsibility. “We had zero responsibility for the beating of Rodney King,” said Najuma Smith-Pollard of the Center for Religion and Culture at the University of Southern California.
There is still a low level of accountability for the killings of African-Americans, she says. After the death of George Floyd, she says many police killings, which she thinks are unjustified, have gone unpunished. Police homicides in the United States remain around 1,000 to 1,100 a year, according to data cited by The Washington Post and the website Mapping Police Violence. Most of them result from violent confrontations between the suspects and the police and in some cases like that of George Floyd, the suspects are unarmed.
Half of those killed are white, yet studies show that African-Americans are disproportionately affected. Activists say the rising number of killings indicates the need for a radical change in the way police operate in US cities.
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