Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi essentially thanked George Floyd for dying after the Derrick Chauvin trial concluded. Former Minneapolis Police Officer Derrick Chauvin was on trial for the death of George Floyd. Chauvin was charged with and ultimately convicted of two counts of murder and one count of manslaughter. Celebrations (that could have been riots) sparked from coast to coast. Many celebrities and political figures opined on the decision. Nancy Pelosi’s take was probably one of the grossest ones, but also one of the most honest.
Nancy Pelosi thanked George Floyd for “sacrificing” his life for “justice.” That sentence can be taken in so many different directions. Pelosi’s words can be taken on face value to literally mean “thank you for dying”. And that interpretation is probably pretty accurate. Now when it comes down to PR and marketing teams attempting to clean up what Pelosi said, they will try and say that this type of thing always happens but it is rare that an officer is held accountable. This, of course, leads to their next objective – more strict regulation on police officers nationwide.
“Qualified immunity” is a phrase that has been floating around the internet for a few months (if not, years) now. In a nutshell, qualified immunity (in the context of law enforcement) shields police officers from civil suits because they are working on behalf of the state. If there are any lawsuits or large payouts, everything is directed to the city and/or state in which the alleged wrongdoing occurred. Eliminating qualified immunity won’t improve the police force. Quite the contrary. Good officers who want to make a change will simply move on and do something else. Not-so-good officers will stay around but avoid sticky situations to preserve themselves.
Black Lives Matter and other similarly-affiliated groups raised $10.6 billion dollars in a six month window after George Floyd died. Their biggest fundraiser throughout the years has been events where black men were shot and killed by white men and/or police. BLM itself is mostly white, LGBTQ+ founded, and woman-centric. Heterosexual men, especially black men, don’t really have a place within the social justice world. That is, until, one of them dies if a white man can be blamed.
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Pelosi: ‘Thank You George Floyd for Sacrificing Your Life for Justice’
