{"id":133111,"date":"2021-04-22T22:07:20","date_gmt":"2021-04-22T22:07:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/?p=56803"},"modified":"2021-04-22T22:07:20","modified_gmt":"2021-04-22T22:07:20","slug":"relief-at-derek-chauvin-conviction-sign-of-long-history-of-us-police-brutality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/04\/22\/relief-at-derek-chauvin-conviction-sign-of-long-history-of-us-police-brutality\/","title":{"rendered":"Relief at Derek Chauvin conviction sign of long history of US police brutality"},"content":{"rendered":"
ANALYSIS:<\/strong> By Clare Corbould<\/a>, Deakin University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n The unprecedented conviction of police officer Derek Chauvin in the United States for the murder and manslaughter<\/a> of George Floyd<\/a> is testament to the hard work of Black Lives Matter organisers and protesters.<\/p>\n It might seem as though someone who spent nine minutes and 29 seconds<\/a> pressing his weight through his knee into another man\u2019s neck \u2013 all captured on video \u2013 would be a slam dunk for a conviction. But history shows us otherwise.<\/p>\n Thirty years ago, blurry footage taken with a home camcorder<\/a> from an apartment balcony showed the world four white police officers beating Rodney King, an African American man on his knees. The police used batons, between 53 and 56 times.<\/p>\n Those officers were charged with excessive force and assault<\/a>. Their lawyers argued they could not get a fair hearing in Los Angeles, so the trial was moved to a conservative county with a higher proportion of white residents \u2013 reflected in the makeup of the jury. Their lawyers also argued, successfully, that the audio on the recording be omitted because it would prejudice the jury. Instead, they screened it frame by frame.<\/p>\n Without the sounds of the blows striking King and the screams of bystanders urging the police to stop, the video persuaded jurors of the defence lawyers\u2019 arguments that the officers were acting in self-defence<\/a>.<\/p>\n One juror later told reporters she believed King was in \u201ctotal control<\/a>\u201d of the event. That juror believed one of the defence lawyers, who said \u201cthere\u2019s only one person who\u2019s in charge of this situation and that\u2019s Rodney Glenn King\u201d. She was sure a Black American man presented a violent threat, even while on his knees and clearly injured.<\/p>\n Justified police violence<\/strong>\n
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\nThis idea \u2013 that Black bodies somehow contain coiled violence ready to be unleashed at any moment \u2013 has justified police violence for years. This is true for police perceptions of African American women, such as Breonna Taylor<\/a> in her own home<\/a>, as well as for African American men.<\/p>\n