MNA and Nurses Respond to the Killing of George Floyd by Police

[tnbutterfly - Mary]

We have all seen on the news the terrible scene that played out in the streets in Minnesota when George Floyd, an unarmed 46-year-old black male, was arrested by the Minnesota Police for attempted forgery at a convenience store. The action was caught on video as George Floyd, handcuffed and pinned to the ground face down by an officer who pressed with his full weight with his knee on Mr. Floyd's neck for more than 8 minutes. We watched and heard George Floyd crying out that he couldn't breathe. We heard him calling for "Mama". We watched as his body went limp with the officer still holding him down. This will be a scene I shall never forget.

The following are quotes from the Minnesota Nurses Association's response to this heinous crime.

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As nurses, we see the horrific effects of racism in our hospitals and community every day. We cannot remain silent as yet another black man has died at the hands of police...

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George Floyd's last words were "I can't breathe.” George Floyd died shortly after arriving at the hospital."

Nurses jump into action when they hear someone say "I can't breathe", instead of standing there watching them die. Their goal is to save lives, not kill people

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In the case of George Floyd, Minneapolis Police took no care or life-saving measures. Instead, they left him pinned down to the ground until paramedics arrived. Police ignored the pleas of George Floyd and he died.

Nurses care for all patients, regardless of their gender, race, religion or other status. We expect the same from the police. Unfortunately, nurses continue to see the devastating effects of systematic racism and oppression targeting people of color in our communities. We demand justice for George Floyd and a stop to the unnecessary death of black men at the hands of those who should protect them.

As a nurse, or as a compassionate human, how has this horrific event affected you? We have seen protests (some peaceful and some that have erupted into riots), vandalism, looting, and more. What is going on in your community? What actions can nurses take?

Let us stand together and let our voices be heard. Post your comments below.

[toomuchbaloney]

3 minutes ago, Workitinurfava said:

There were a lot of violent protest all over the world. That's not OK. How will these violent protest help anything? 

In the USA a good measure of the violence associated with BLM protests was accelerationism.  They know that lots of white people get realty angry over destruction of property and don't pay enough attention to detail to know who is initiating the violence. 

Riots, white supremacy, and acceler

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Accelerationism is the idea that white supremacists should try to increase civil disorder — accelerate it — in order to foster polarization that will tear apart the current political order. The System (usually capitalized), they believe, has only a finite number of collaborators and lackeys to prop it up. Accelerationists hope to set off a series of chain reactions, with violence fomenting violence, and in the ensuing cycle more and more people join the fray. When confronted with extremes, so the theory goes, those in the middle will be forced off the fence and go to the side of the white supremacists. If violence can be increased sufficiently, the System will run out of lackeys and collapse, and the race war will commence.

 

[Workitinurfava, BSN, RN]

10 minutes ago, toomuchbaloney said:

In the USA a good measure of the violence associated with BLM protests was accelerationism.  They know that lots of white people get realty angry over destruction of property and don't pay enough attention to detail to know who is initiating the violence. 

Riots, white supremacy, and acceler

 

White supremacist aren't what's having the most devastating affects on the blk community, it's the blk community having the most devastating affect on themselves.

[macawake, MSN]

34 minutes ago, Workitinurfava said:

There were a lot of violent protest all over the world. That's not OK. How will these violent protest help anything? Yes less aggressive force needs to be considered granted the situation but the community Floyd is from needs to work on decreasing crime. 

And again you’re focusing on the minority. Why? The vast majority of people protesting were peaceful. Both in the U.S. and around the world.
 

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_George_Floyd_protests_outside_the_United_States

When you make an effort to constantly point to a minority of protesters who committed crimes, it gives me the impression that you are attempting to undermine the legitimacy of the protests in general. Do you, or don’t you, think that it’s acceptable to protest against unjustified police use of force? 

Your entire country needs to ”work on” decreasing crime. I assume by using the term ”the community Floyd is from” you mean the black community? I think it’s rather ugly to assume that the responsibility for the level of crime in a society, rests solely on one group identified by the color of their skin. Especially when that group of people have historically been extremely mistreated. If you knew the first thing about criminology, you’d know that socioeconomic status is of more interest than race.

And I can’t really believe that you are using the name of a murder victim and saying that his community bears the responsibility for decreasing crime. It wasn’t ”his community” that killed him. 

[Workitinurfava, BSN, RN]

Yes there is way too much crime in the black community and it needs to be worked on. Bullets are flying all over the place on a daily basis in most areas where they live in mass injuring innocent people there everyday. Where is the outrage for blk on blk crime?

 

[macawake, MSN]

1 hour ago, Curious1997 said:

I looked at the video as well and I can honestly say that I am glad I am not a police officer. I would rather work in the sewers. 

I might suggest that he could have used a taser but being completely ignorant about any of these weapons, I should be ignored completely. 

Jesus that happened quickly! How can that policeman live with the guilt. I've had fights working as a bouncer and caused some damage and then had to go home to mommy for comfort. 

Man how do those guys do that job, I don't know? They weren't even criminals? Imagine when it's a stone cold criminal? I left the bouncer job because there are some people who are just plain evil! They really want to hurt people! 

It’s not an easy job. Yes, it happened very quickly. Judging by that footage, officer(s) barely had time to get out of their car(s) before pandemonium broke loose. All in all, it was less than half a minute. When you think about the fact that police officers know that they during any moment of their shifts, can end up in a situation like this in a matter of seconds, it’s easier to understand the type of stress they deal with. 

I’d never trust a taser in a situation like that. Look at the time frame. When the officer took that shot, the woman pinned against the car could have been less than a second away from being killed. I have trouble believing that this will be judged as anything other than clearly justifiable. But again, this will be looked into by those who have all the information. 

Considering how close the assailant/victim were and how dynamic the situation was, that was impressive precision. The police officer must have had adrenaline coursing through his body. That tends to make your hands trembly (although the worst of it usually comes afterwards) and gives you tunnel vision. The tunnel vision part is something that you work with in training so that your aware of your body’s physiological responses to stress. 

As I said, a tragic situation. Both for the deceased, her family and the police officer. 

In a well-functioning police department you’ll receive counselling after use of deadly force. And if you’re ”normal” (whatever that is), you’ll need it. Taking a life isn’t, shouldn’t be, easy. For most police officers it isn’t. But knowing that you did the right thing and likely helped save a life, helps in most cases. 

 

[macawake, MSN]

2 hours ago, Workitinurfava said:

Yes there is way too much crime in the black community and it needs to be worked on. Bullets are flying all over the place on a daily basis in most areas where they live in mass injuring innocent people there everyday. Where is the outrage for blk on blk crime?

 

I dislike crime in general.

When are you going to go ”work on” all those white mass murderers and perhaps fix the fact that a white perpetrators  murder victims are disproportionally female compared to the murder victims of black perpetrators? White people favor killing women. If my math is correct here the numbers are 23.6% female victims when the perpetrator was black and 35.4% female victims when the perpetrator was white. Since you appear determined to make crime all about race. 
 

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https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2018/crime-in-the-u.s.-2018/tables/expanded-homicide-data-table-6.xls

 

How come you didn’t respond to my question about George Floyd not being murdered by ”his community”? You are extremely selective in what you choose to focus your attention on and what you choose to ignore. 
 

Oh, about that ”blk on blk” crime... What’s the appropriate equivalent? Wht on wht? Whi on whi? Wit on wit? Crime is seldom witty, so I guess scratch that last one. 

[Workitinurfava, BSN, RN]

17 minutes ago, macawake said:

I dislike crime in general.

When are you going to go ”work on” all those white mass murderers and perhaps fix the fact that a white perpetrators  murder victims are disproportionally female compared to the murder victims of black perpetrators? White people favor killing women. The numbers are 23.6% women when the perpetrator was black and 35.4% women when the perpetrator was white. Since you’re determined on making crime all about race. 
 

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https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2018/crime-in-the-u.s.-2018/tables/expanded-homicide-data-table-6.xls

 

How come that you didn’t respond to my question about George Floyd not being murdered by ”his community”? You are extremely selective in what you choose to focus your attention on and what you choose to ignore. 
 

Oh, about that ”blk on blk” crime... What’s the appropriate equivalent? Wht on wht? Wih on wih? Wit on wit? Crime is seldom witty, so I guess scratch that last one. 

I'm not ignoring you, a blind person can see that crime is very high in the blk community. Why are you talking about crime in the white community. This is a typical response though.

 

https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/op-ED/bs-ED-op-0406-black-crime-20200403-lyiri4nzuvbuxks6i2h6mhirtq-story.html

FactCheck: do black Americans commit more crime? – Channel 4 News
https://www.channel4.com/news/factcheck/factcheck-black-americans-commit-crime

[macawake, MSN]

20 minutes ago, Workitinurfava said:

I'm not ignoring you, a blind person can see that crime is very high in the blk community. Why are you talking about crime in the white community. This is a typical response though.

Of course you’re ignoring me. Well not me, but my questions. And you keep on doing it. That’s your prerogative. But don’t pretend that you aren’t.

I’m discussing crime in general. It’s you who wants to make it about race.
I already told you. Look at socioeconomic factors. There’s no such thing as a criminal race. 

Soooooo, since you think that the black community needs to work on crime, when are you going to work on ”white crime”? 
 

 

And why do you keep writing ”blk”? Since I’m such a painfully smart person I can tell from other words that you type, that the letters a and c appear to work just fine when you choose to use them... ? Is this an American idiosyncracy or is it symptomatic of something else?

[Workitinurfava, BSN, RN]

4 minutes ago, macawake said:

Of course you’re ignoring me. Well not me, but my questions. And you keep on doing it. That’s your prerogative. But don’t pretend that you aren’t.

I’m discussing crime in general. It’s you who wants to make it about race.
I already told you. Look at socioeconomic factors. There’s no such thing as a criminal race. 

Soooooo, since you think that the black community needs to work on crime, when are you going to work on ”white crime”? 
 

 

And why do you keep writing ”blk”? Since I’m such a smart person I can tell from other words that you that the letters a and c appear to work just fine when you choose to use them... ?

The stats are there. I moving on from this conversation. 

[macawake, MSN]

2 minutes ago, Workitinurfava said:

The stats are there. I moving on from this conversation. 

Wise decision ?

[toomuchbaloney]

2 hours ago, Workitinurfava said:

White supremacist aren't what's having the most devastating affects on the blk community, it's the blk community having the most devastating affect on themselves.

Baloney 

 

[toomuchbaloney]

44 minutes ago, Workitinurfava said:

The stats are there. I moving on from this conversation. 

Oh, I doubt that very much...I think you are just uncomfortable with the questions that you don't want to answer.