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“The video of a Minneapolis police officer killing a defenseless, handcuffed man is one of the most vile and heartbreaking images I’ve ever seen.” — Melvin Carter
This is the response of Melvin Carter Major of the city of Saint Paul, Minnesota when he saw the footage. I choose not to put it into my own words since I am a white European male. I can not even begin to understand what it must feel like to be discriminated against and abused by the police. Seeing Mr. Floyd being kneeled on while pleading to the officer that he should please stop is terrifying. The actions of both officers are examples that one of the deadliest and most brutal viruses is still alive: racism.
That being said, this is not the first injustice act of the police against minority groups. Unfortunately, there have been several cases of police brutality against black minorities in the US (Rodney King, Amadou Diallo, Timothy Thomas, and many more). It has been stated in research that Blacks are more likely than Whites to make complaints regarding police brutality (Smith and Holmes, 2003), to be accosted while operating a motorized vehicle.