By Finian Cunningham

May 30, 2020 "Information Clearing House" - “Being black in America should not be a death sentence” – so said Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey following the shocking, gruesome killing of George Floyd by a police officer on the streets of Saint Paul.

Floyd (46) was filmed by bystanders handcuffed and pinned to the road face down while a cop pressed his knee on his neck for eight minutes. Despite desperate pleas from Floyd that he could not breathe and protests from the bystanders to let him go, the police officer choked him to death.

Four officers have been reportedly fired following public outrage over the killing of Floyd. Minneapolis and other cities have seen riots for several nights running since the incident on May 25. Video footage shows the victim was not resisting arrest as the police force had earlier claimed. He was arrested on suspicion of passing a fake $20 note at a restaurant. The use of such excessive force by the police – even if the forgery claims are substantiated – is obscenely disproportionate.

Evidently, George Floyd was lynched by a white cop on the street of city in broad daylight. The victim’s real “crime” was being black.

Studies of official data consistently show that U.S. black males, proportionate to population, are far more likely to die from encounters with police officers compared with their white counterparts.

The case of George Floyd is grimly reminiscent of that of Eric Garner who was choked to death by a police officer in New York City in 2014. Garner was apprehended on suspicion of selling contraband cigarettes on the street. He also pleaded for mercy while in a stranglehold, telling officers he could not breathe before being throttled to death.

Most deaths, however, at the hands of law enforcement officers are caused by firearms. Invariably, the excuse is parroted that the officer “felt his life was being threatened” by the victim. Philando Castile was shot dead with five rounds at the wheel of his stationary car in July 2016 because the traffic cop claimed Castile was moving his hand suspiciously. That was after the victim had calmly told the officer he had a firearm in the car by way of alerting him to avoid fatal mistake.

The vast majority of cops accused of these kind of racist killings are never prosecuted, or else acquitted.