I got an email on Easter that was literally a product of another age. It is a relic of the kind of historical ignorance and misreading of contemporary events that one is tempted to think is nearly impossible in the modern age.
Just as there are people in 2021 who believe that the Earth is flat despite the overwhelming evidence of science, geometry, human experience, the circumnavigation of the planet 500 years ago and pictures of Earth taken from space, there are folks who can witness a man being suffocated on video by a cop’s knee on his neck and insist that nothing sinister is happening.
I wrote a fairly straight-forward column about the murder trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin last week. Most people who read it didn’t contest the basic facts as I recounted them. Even those who disagreed with the sentiment of the column didn’t argue that what Chauvin did was “good policing.”
These apologists would argue that Chauvin was incompetent, borderline malicious and demonstrably bad at his job, but that his original intent wasn’t to murder a Black man in cold blood, though that’s what he ended up doing.
They argue what Chauvin did is a case of criminally negligent manslaughter, but not second- or third-degree murder. That’s a morally incoherent position given the evidence, but at least it doesn’t require stepping into an alternate universe to understand where the writer is coming from.
The following letter is from a reader whose name I won’t use because she had no idea that it would become fodder for a column. I’ve never exchanged emails with this woman before, so we have no history of animus or cross-talk. I have no idea if she’s a lot younger than I assume she is, but I can’t imagine someone less prepared to deal with the facts of the real world than this writer.
For the record, I no longer respond to those whom I believe to be racist trolls, mentally ill or incorrigibly stupid. I didn’t reply to the note or seek to confirm that she actually believes what she wrote. I think it stands as a document of willful credulity by someone who has bought into passive white supremacy whether she is Black, white, Asian, Hispanic or none of the above.
I’m publishing it here with no identifying names so that folks will understand that a just verdict in the trial of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd is likely, but not guaranteed. If there is even one person on the jury who thinks like this woman, then it will be — excuse the savage imagery — a hung jury.
Do I believe there are many people who can look at Floyd’s life being stripped from him and argue that his killer, a former police officer, is blameless? No, I don’t.
I believe Chauvin will be convicted, but it is simply a question of whether it will be a conviction based on the most serious charges or not. The preponderance of evidence against him is just too overwhelming to imagine a racially mixed jury will rule he’s innocent. Even an all-white jury wouldn’t be able to do it.
This letter is written by someone who believes she’s articulating a view that any sensible person looking at the same video evidence will agree with. She’s confident that she’s right and argues her points with a self-righteousness that is brutally relentless. It took my breath away when I first read it. Now after many reads, it feels hopelessly banal.
Mr. Norman:
Your view of the trial is different than mine. I heard George Floyd’s girlfriend testify that he listed her as “Mama” in his cell phone and that they did drugs together.
I heard him lie to police who asked if he was on something. He said no. I saw him stumbling and falling on the sidewalk, even though 2 officers arm escorted him across the street to the squad car.
He told police he was “claustrophobic” yet I saw him sit as the driver of his sister’s car. I saw him continually resist arrest in a combative way, kicking and fighting 4 officers who repeatedly told him to sit in the squad car.
I saw that a police body camera was kicked off the officer, and it lay on the ground. I heard him demand PUT ME ON THE GROUND. I saw him kicking officers even though he was in handcuffs. Cars and trucks were passing in heavy traffic next to them on the street.
I saw Officer Chauvin use his training to keep George Floyd still in a hold for EMS. The EMS was summoned early in the arrest. The officers wanted to get medical help asap. No one knew he had severe heart disease. Or many drugs in his system. Plus Covid. Have you ever had to calm down a drug addict during an overdose on the ground of a busy city street, in a high crime area? What would your own face look like, as you struggle with a muscular man overdosing? While you are waiting for an ambulance? The experts will discuss how his heart attack occurred, how meth overdose happens. The police policies at that time will reveal what procedure was trained. In other words, 4 officers will be held accountable to training in effect at that time.
Finally, autopsy and toxicology will show if there was any damage to neck. Any asphyxiation or strangulation. Any bruises to neck or bones in neck. A knee on a shoulder or back is not a knee on a neck, as evidence can prove. I suggest you refrain from judging officers until the trial evidence is confirmed. Justice is due process, not speculation. [Name withheld to protect the guilty].
I feel sorry for the letter writer. She’s probably what society would consider a conventionally “good person.” She pays her taxes, donates to worthy causes and votes dutifully in every election. She’s uptight about drugs and crime.
She probably doesn’t consciously dislike people based on their religion or ethnicity. She’s likely a loving mother, wife and grandmother. There may even be racially mixed people in her immediate family.
I picture her as an educated woman, but not in the humanities. She’s a retired business owner, civil servant or stay-at-home mom who grew up with limited contact with those who have had bad encounters with the police. Her primary source of information has got to be Fox News, OAN or Newsmax. Her self-righteousness is tinged with an echo of religious conviction. She’s very likely visited QAnon forums online, but she’s too sensible to fall down that rabbit hole. Still, she’s definitely a Trump voter.
The woman who wrote this letter will deeply resent being reduced to a cultural stereotype. I don’t blame her. Most people hate being put in boxes, but there’s no denying the perversity of her perception of the facts surrounding the murder of Floyd.
I’m publishing this letter not because I believe it is a prank, but because I believe the person who wrote it is serious. It demonstrates the looming gulf between perception and reality in large swaths of this country when it comes to the most open-and-shut cases of public interest and controversy. She watched the video, but like Chauvin, she chooses to believe that Floyd brought whatever happened to him on himself. She believes Chauvin is an innocent bystander or even the victim of a sinister liberal mob.
There really are people in this country who look at the video of the killing Floyd and say to themselves, “that’s the kind of cop I want patrolling the streets of my city.” How does one argue with them? Their hearts are closed to the possibility that George Floyd was anything other than a very scary, muscular dude who deserved to be put down like an animal because he was high. The cruelty of nice people is truly a terrible thing to behold.
Tony Norman: tnorman@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1631. Twitter @Tony_NormanPG.
First Published: April 6, 2021, 4:00 a.m.
