Here are some early reactions to Derek Chauvin's guilty verdict

boing
#20

I haven’t watched the video. I just can’t, not right now.

My understanding is that the young woman who was shot is the one who called the police for help, begging them for help because there was a group of people who were threatening to assault her. It is my understanding that the officer rolled up onto the scene and shot her pretty much immediately, without warning. It is my understanding that the officer shouted “Blue Lives Matter” at some point during the evening after murdering her.

Has anyone who has watched the video or who has a better understanding of events tell me if these things are true?

Thanks!

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#21

I only have one correction to make:

She was 15. She was still just a kid. A girl.

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#22

I struggled with what descriptor to use there.

At 15, one is a child. But most 15 year olds that I have met hate being described that way. And I would not want to disrespect someone (particularly after they have been murdered) by describing them in a way that would cause them discomfort.

But it is important for everyone to remember that she was a child who was scared and asked the police for help, and they murdered her.

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#23

Well, it wasn’t (just) that it was written by someone for whom this wasn’t a big deal, but her statement was both awful and dumb. A reasonably intelligent person should have flagged it.

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#24

Totally. I’ve been trying to think of any similar reference that would be at all acceptable, but I don’t think there is one. “Thank you to all who sacrificed their lives to drunk drivers for our improved driving safety laws?”
It doesn’t make sense in any context, so it’s baffling how it made it through multiple levels of review (like I assume everything goes through).
It’s easy to try to figure out what she meant to say, but that’s not what words she used, so,…:grimacing:

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#25

brilliant! yes, let’s!

#26

Yeah, you wouldn’t express her sentiments about any other person who got murdered because it would be obviously (but equally) nonsensical. I can’t give her credit for what she “meant to say” because the basic sentiment she was trying to express is really dumb and wrong. He wasn’t “making a sacrifice,” the guy got horribly (and fairly randomly) murdered and the murderer was held accountable. That’s it. Because his killer was part of the “justice system,” justice in this case would have been that he was never murdered in the first place.

Now, it’s true that his very public murder (and the obvious lies the police told about it after) was the straw that broke the camel’s back and inspired anger that’s resulting in pushes for fixes to the justice system - which haven’t happened yet (as witnessed by the large number of people murdered by the police during this trial) - but that’s completely outside this case.

Could have been worse, I suppose - she could have thanked the obviously murderous, lying cops involved for inspiring this movement, as it follows the same logic.

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#27

She (and/or her staff) apparently tried again today. A much better second attempt, but no effort to actually apologize for the absolutely disastrous first pass (that she QT’d!) yesterday.

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#28

You would think one of the most powerful people in congress would have PR people in place to make sure she doesn’t put her foot into her mouth on a regular basis. I mean Jesus Christ. There are black members of the house - ask them to look over your statement. Or better yet, use your platform to elevate their voice.

:confused:

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#29

Oof - it’s an infinitely better statement but it’s rather massively undercut by QTing the original bad one…

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#30

Every single one of these assholes needs to be fired and have their pension revoked. They’re not police for the public good, they’re police for the power trip, and they’re mad someone FINALLY got in trouble for it.

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#31

According to the linked article, the girl who was shot was in the process of stabbing another girl. And the pictures in the article show the girl with a knife in her hand apparently doing just that. I’m not actually willing to view the video though. So this one may not be so cut-n-dried. This may have been one of the rare cases where the use of a taser may have actually been appropriate, if the girl really was in the process of trying to kill another girl. Certainly much more appropriate then shooting the girl dead. The use of a gun is almost never appropriate. Stopping someone with a knife by shooting them dead seems excessive for the circumstances. As well as endangering all the bystanders, as well as the girl who was getting stabbed who the officer was supposedly attempting to protect.

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#32

I feel like “girl calls cops to help her because she’s being threatened by a group of people, cop rolls up and shoots her while she’s in the process of trying to keep herself safe” is still pretty cut-n-dried.

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#33

Anyone find any proof of this online, though? I didn’t see it in the Twitter responses, and nothing’s turned up via web searches.

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#34

He was not a martyr for a cause. He was a victim. Trying to paint the situation like he was sacrificing himself for a cause is just gross. He was not willing to be a “sacrifice”. He did not choose to bravely take a stand in defense of some cause, despite knowing the risks. He was murdered by police. He was a murder victim. Trying to paint the situation like he knew the dangers and chose to take the risks and was willing to die for a cause is just icky. He did not choose to be a victim.

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#35

I think the Tweets he linked are tone deaf and pandering. Though I also think people can be both unwilling murder victims and martyrs. I’ve heard Mathew Sheppard described as a martyr, for example.

#36

Nancy Pelosi’s comments have put Fox News in the awkward position of denouncing Pelosi for desecrating the memory of George Floyd even as they themselves continue to desecrate the memory of George Floyd

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#37

aha! seventh dimensional chess!

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#38

Back in the mid 90’s a fellow factory worker was waiting to join a police academy and become an officer. He left the factory and about 2 years later he drove up in a police car in our small town and pulled me over to gloat his new position on the local force. I congratulated him, small chat and off I went.

About 6 months later, walking with my 5 yr old daughter downtown I saw ‘Mike’ standing around with 2 fellow officers. As we walked by I said ‘Hello Mike’. The 3 cops looked at us with no emotion including Mike and I knew Mike was gone. Now it was Officer surname with held and that was that. My daughter didnt say hi to him or them.

Wasn’t Mayberry after all.

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#39
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