by Jason Whitlock
Will anyone locked inside the NBA’s groupthink bubble react to the leaked bodycam footage of George Floyd’s arrest and tragic death?
The Daily Mail, a London-based newspaper, published the bodycam videos of two of the four former Minneapolis police officers charged with crimes in Floyd’s death.
The videos show police verbally and physically struggling to get Floyd to comply. Floyd appears panicked, disoriented, desperate and totally non-compliant. He complains that he can’t breathe while standing on two feet. He claims his mother just died and that he can’t sit in the back of the police car because he’s claustrophobic. He repeatedly begs the officers not to shoot him. He worms the upper part of his body out of the police car and asks to lay on the ground.
Early on during the encounter, long before the police restrain Floyd on his stomach, a female bystander shouts at Floyd to quit “resisting” and a male bystander pleads with Floyd that he can’t “win.”
At the beginning of the video, when Floyd is behind the wheel of the car he was driving, an officer draws and points his gun when Floyd initially refuses to show both of his hands. When Floyd complies, the officer holsters his weapon.
The behavior of the police officers seems appropriate and restrained given Floyd’s level of resistance and bizarre conduct. The footage reasonably explains how and why Floyd wound up on the ground with multiple officers restraining him.
The video does not justify officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes. But it does offer context why Chauvin would be reluctant to believe Floyd’s “I can’t breathe” cries. Nearly every word out of Floyd’s mouth was a desperate lie.
Here are the takeaways from the footage:
- Floyd’s behavior escalated a routine arrest into a possible abuse of force.
- The George Floyd case is not a race crime. No rational person can watch that footage and conclude the police were motivated by Floyd’s black race.
- It’s going to be virtually impossible to convict former officers Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao of any crime.
- It will be equally difficult to convict Chauvin of murder.
Professional athletes elected themselves the National Internal Affairs Department for American police. The NBA’s Orlando bubble is the headquarters for the NIAD.
Will anyone ask NIAD spokesmen LeBron James, Steve Kerr, Gregg Popovich and Adam Silver for their thoughts on the leaked Floyd footage? Will one of the media information ministers locked inside the bubble be allowed to query James, Kerr, Pop or Silver on this topic? Will one of the woke warriors on Dan Le Batard’s radio show run a poll asking whether the leaked video footage is funny?
The NBA, the NFL and Major League Baseball chose to drape themselves in Black Lives Matter symbols and view all negative encounters between black people and white people as examples of white supremacy.
Life is far more complicated than the race-baiting that gets retweeted and liked over Twitter. What happened to George Floyd is more complicated than the substance-less assertion that Derek Chauvin acted out of racial animus. Chauvin abused his power. His defense lawyers will argue he was baited into abusing his power by Floyd.
It’s the same excuse pro sports’ Three Stooges — Adam Silver, Roger Goodell and Rob Manfred — will make years from now when the mainstream media finally objectively evaluates this era of sports.
Moe (Silver), Larry (Goodell) and Curly (Manfred) have been played and used by anarchists and communists who are using opportunists to promote an American race war.
Their fear-driven leadership has turned America’s great unifier — sports — into a racial divider.
At some point, NFL and NBA ownership must realize they need leadership that is unafraid of their athlete employees. Kowtowing to LeBron’s social media following is a deadly mistake.
This is no longer a debate about declining TV ratings for pro sports leagues. That’s inconsequential. This is about the preservation of American freedom and ideals. The subversion of sports culture is directly tied to the subversion of American culture. Sports culture proved the strength of our melting pot, the power of a diverse meritocracy. Live sporting events shaped popular culture.
We don’t have a suitable replacement. Academia? Go look at the results produced by the white liberals in control of our academic institutions. You want to see white supremacy? Visit Yale, Harvard or any of their Ivy League brothers. Hollywood? Please. Every narrative arc for black characters is now fixated on police interaction and/or racism. The music industry? If you’re not covered in tattoos and willing to portray yourself as a ho, pimp, drug dealer and gangbanger, the music industry is highly reluctant to support you.
The above groups are now the main allies of professional athletes. The above groups are united in their belief that systemic racism killed George Floyd and that Floyd had no responsibility to protect his own life.
The actions of the above groups, along with the mainstream media, guarantee that the second wave of George Floyd riots are going to be more deadly and destructive than the first wave.
The second wave will come when Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Kueng, Tou Thao and Derek Chauvin are acquitted of all serious charges.
When those riots happen, the Three Stooges, LeBron James, Colin Kaepernick and all the other entitled millionaires will be locked in their gated bubbles watching poor people’s lives destroyed on CNN.
No one will ever question them about the roles they played in stirring the racial outrage.
The video does not justify officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes…Chauvin abused his power.
These are the only relevant takeaways for me.
I never imagined that Floyd was some perfect saint who didn’t resist at all. That’s irrelevant. Police have to be trained to detain suspects, even difficult ones, using proper force. Kneeling on a suspect’s neck for nine minutes is so far outside that it’s ridiculous.
I have no idea if Chauvin was motivated by race or if he would have acted the same way with a white person. But statistically, black suspects are more likely than white suspects to be treated this way. Police brutality is always wrong regardless of race, but if the racial stats make people pay more attention to this issue than they otherwise would, that is a good thing.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/opinions/systemic-racism-police-evidence-criminal-justice-system/
Chris said, “I have no idea if Chauvin was motivated by race or if he would have acted the same way with a white person. But statistically, black suspects are more likely than white suspects to be treated this way. Police brutality is always wrong regardless of race, but if the racial stats make people pay more attention to this issue than they otherwise would, that is a good thing.” I agree Chris, you have no idea what was in the mind of Chauvin, but its a contemptable lie to say his knee was choking Floyd to death for 9 minutes. That simply is not true! Wait until the trial evidence is presented before you try to refute this. It is also a contemptable lie to say that “black suspects are more than likely than white suspects to be treated this way.” This is absolutely not true, if anything white cops will go easier on black suspects because they know they will be accused of racism, so they try to go the extra distance to peacefully handle a black suspect. I know of no cop who would do it any other way, including my own son. Before you tell me I’m wrong, just remember I did this job – you didn’t. All you know is second hand bs, so please don’t even try to compare that to my years on the force.
but its a contemptable lie to say his knee was choking Floyd to death for 9 minutes.
I said that Chauvin’s knee was on Floyd’s neck for nine minutes. That is also what the author you quoted said. This is a fact. Whether or not Floyd was being “choked” for those entire nine minutes is really a contemptible moving of the goalposts on your part.
It is also a contemptable lie to say that “black suspects are more than likely than white suspects to be treated this way.” This is absolutely not true, if anything white cops will go easier on black suspects because they know they will be accused of racism, so they try to go the extra distance to peacefully handle a black suspect. I know of no cop who would do it any other way, including my own son. Before you tell me I’m wrong, just remember I did this job – you didn’t. All you know is second hand bs, so please don’t even try to compare that to my years on the force.
What I have are the dozens of studies in the article I just linked to you, none of which you can refute. That weighs a lot more to me than anecdotal evidence from a police officer who is naturally biased towards police officers as a group.