HONORING DEREK CHAUVIN

...the man who murdered George Floyd

I got up this morning intent on getting in a 90 minute mountain-side trail hike and then continuing trying to make verbal sense of the Supreme Court’s decision that the Voting Rights Act is “no longer necessary”...which is congress’s decision to make, not the court’s. The courts job is to determine if a law or even a procedure is constitutional. But as we all know, the court decided that since racism in this country has pretty much been obliterated, and that skin color no longer matters in access to the polls, or to have the opportunity to vote for the candidates of their choice, the court decided not that the law was unconstitutional, but simply that it was no longer necessary. They didn’t kill the law. They simply pulled all of its teeth.

I tend to see understanding this latest Voting Rights Act decision, along with the 2013 decision to pull not all the teeth from this law, just the canines; the 2023 decision to end affirmative action (there’s been a long term saying that Black Americans don’t need a handout, they just need a hand up. So much for either) as court decisions that completely expose America’s long, disabling, and unfair, Thing With Race. Continuing with my guess-work, there’s probably less of an understanding of the 1968 Fair Housing Act; the 1954 Brown v Wichita Board of Education decision that public school racial segregation was illegal, negating the 1896 Plessy v Ferguson decision that school racial segregation was peachy so long as schools - although separate - were equal in quality. Although maybe not understanding the decision, or maybe not even knowing of Plessy versus Ferguson, we all know how “Separate but Equal”worked out. America did an excellent job adhering to the separate part. The “equal in quality” part? Yeah...not so much.

I am sure as heck am not a constitutional or Supreme Court scholar. And I know I don’t need to write about all the particulars of the Voting Rights Act decision. Those were immediately covered, explained, dissected, kicked around, and then dissected some more the very day of the decision. And every day since, without fail, that decision has been referenced and kicked around some more.

Americans mostly understand the two Voting Rights Act decisions, the latest Affirmative Action ruling, and Brown v Board… And admittedly, that’s a lot to dissect and understand there. It should be the schools job and not mine, but then we quickly get into the controversy of Critical Race Theory...the definition of which is, “Anything that has to do with the story of America’s thing with race that doesn’t portray White Americans with a golden halo.”

But if we can understand those key court decisions and the one housing act, we can understand a heck of a lot about Race In America. A short Critical Race Theory course. Let’s go!

So... back to my original plans for the day. Get up. Knock off a few pushups while my beautiful stainless steel French press brewed my Starbucks Cinnamon Dulce, drink my coffee, eat some breakfast, read the news from at least three sources, go for a hike, continue trying to figure out how to dive into the Voting Rights Act thing. It took me a while, but I got almost all the way there. Almost. But being a news junkie, when I got home from my hike I thought I would just skim the news once again. I probably should not have done that. One of the NYT ledes caught my eye: “Minnesota Republicans Hold Moment of Silence for Ex-Officer Convicted of Murder.”

I knew right off this referred to Derek Chauvin, former City of Minnesota police officer who murdered George Floyd in March 2020...the very thing that was the impetus for The Civil Conversations Project and this Substack writing platform that you are reading. For a brief moment, I assumed that, “moment of silence” indicated some level of honor or respect towards Chauvin. But then I thought immediately afterwards that no… for some reason they are honoring or mourning Chauvin’s victim, George Floyd. No one... absolutely nobody would honor Derek Chauvin. So I read it and learned that my first reaction that the Minnesota Republicans were honoring Derek Chauvin, convicted murderer, had been right.

Could I possibly be reading this correctly? The Minnesota Republican party could not possibly be honoring the man who had been convicted of murder, a murder every second of which - all 569 of them - had been caught on tape and watched around the entire world.

But that’s exactly what they were doing. Delegates to the Minnesota Republican convention out of respect to Derek Chauvin...honoring - in public for all to see - a brutal convicted murderer. So much for delving into the Voting Rights Act today. Today is about Derek Chauvin and the rot that permeates and deeply harms America...this country that we all try our damndest to love.

I’m trying to understand this. Is it the delegates way of giving a nod and a thumbs up to anti-Black racial violence? What else could it be? In recent years, some conservatives have sought to reshape the narrative around Mr. Floyd’s killing and have pushed Trump to pardon Mr. Chauvin for his federal conviction. Pardon him because...um...WHY exactly?

Christopher Rocco, a delegate from St. Paul, proposed the moment of silence on Saturday morning, describing Mr. Chauvin to his fellow delegates as someone “who should get a state retrial, who should get a federal pardon.” And same question...WHY exactly? Did Rocco mutter under his breath something like, “...well heck, after all it was only a Black man that Derek killed!”

Rocco said he had decided to seek recognition of Mr. Chauvin after coming to the conclusion that the former officer had not received a fair trial in state court. “So I made that decision to do that, to stand up for someone who doesn’t have the ability to stand up for himself anymore — someone who, in my opinion, faced injustice.”

Yeah, kinda like George Floyd faced injustice.

Asked about the moment of silence by a reporter for WCCO Radio, Alex Plechash, the chairman of the Minnesota Republican Party, said that “There are a lot of people that believe that Derek Chauvin was improperly convicted and not treated well.”

Not treated well?!?! What would “Treated well” have looked like for a man who was filmed slowly and excruciatingly painfully crushing the life out of a man who’s last words were a cry out to his family. “Mama, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I’m dead.”

Mr. Floyd’s headstone could have accurately been inscribed with, “Here lies George Floyd. He was not treated well.”

Nine minutes and 29 seconds.

I use one of those electronic toothbrushes to do my teeth brushing for me. The entire procedure lasts for 80 seconds. Less than a minute and a half. Just a fraction of nine minutes and 29 seconds. But sometimes I go almost crazy trying to endure a mere 80 seconds. I have to discipline myself to go the entire 9 yards.

Nine minutes and 29 seconds.

One of my exercise routines is to do planks. I hold the position until I start to tremble and release it when I just cannot tolerate the agony anymore. Maybe 90 seconds. And nobody has one knee on the back of my neck and the other in the middle of my back.

Nine minutes and 29 seconds. Give it a try. I never did watch the video. Rocco thinks Derek Chauvin was “Improperly convicted and not treated well.” I wonder what a fair trial and good treatment of Mr. Chauvin would look like to Mr. Rocco. And what race plays in this.

One of the things that I recall reading from the trial was the descriptive testimony from Pulmonology physician Martin Tobin describing Mr. Floyd’s death and his last 9 minutes and 29 seconds of life:

Prosecutor: did you consider where Mr. Chauvin’s left knee was during the encounter?

Doctor Martin: yes. Officer Chauvin left news virtually on the neck for the vast majority of the time. [In the video] You can see Officer Chauvin with his left knee on the neck, his right near Mr. Floyd’s arm and chest... The knee is on the neck more than 90% of the time in my calculations.

Prosecution: Did you focus on the first five minutes and a few seconds?

Dr. Martin: Yes. I focused on the first five minutes, three seconds, because that is up to the time where you can see evidence of brain injury.

Prosecution: If Mr. Chauvin’s right knee is on his back from time to time, at other times, it was placed where in your observation?

Dr. Tobin: It was placed on his arm and then rammed into Mr. Floyd’s left chest, so really whether you are making a distinction of whether the knee is on the chest per se, or whether it’s on the left arm and rammed against the left chest, from the point of view of breathing, the effects are extremely similar.

Prosecution: I wanted to turn back to the notes that the number one thing here that is written down for the reasons you told us for Mr. Floyd’s low oxygen. Handcuffs and the street. Could you tell us how these various mechanisms, the four that you’ve discussed, handcuffs on the street, knee on the neck, prone position, knee on the back, knee on the back, arm, and side.

Dr. Tobin: The handcuffs are extremely important to Mr. Floyd. But the handcuffs on their own, just handcuffs, per se, are not that important. It must be the handcuffs combined with the street. And it’s because of the positioning of the handcuffs at the back and how he is manipulated with the handcuffs by both officer Chauvin and Officer Keung, how they manipulate the handcuffs, and then pushing the handcuffs into his back and pushing them high. Then, on the other side, you have the street, so the street is playing a crucial part because he’s against the hard asphalt street. The way they’re pushing down on his handcuffs combined with the street, his left side, and it’s particularly the left side. You see that. It’s like the left side is a vice. It’s totally being pushed in... squeezed in from each side, from the street at the bottom and then from the way the handcuffs are manipulated. It’s not just the handcuffs. It’s how the handcuffs are being held, how they’re being pushed, where they’re being pushed that totally interfere with the central features of how we breathe.

Prosecution: Mr. Floyd is pancaked between the pavement underneath him, and then force on top of him.

Dr. Tobin: The way we breathe, we have two big muscles that help us with breathing. The diaphragm and the rib cage muscles. We expand the chest, and air flows in from outside, and it’s coming in. And it’s all that happens on inspiration.

Prosecution: Doctor, in this case, we were able to observe whether Mr. Floyd’s breathing was impacted by the handcuffs and the placement on the street?

Dr. Tobin: What I observed is, particularly, is in terms of the hands of the police and the handcuffs, particularly on the left side. They were forcing Mr. Floyd’s left wrist up into his chest, forcing tight against his chest, forcing it high up. You have to keep in mind that the opposite side of this is the street so he’s being squashed between the two sides so this meant that he couldn’t exert his “pump handle” because, I mean, the street totally blocked his handle. There is no way he could do front to back movement. And again, the way they were pressing in on the back, there’s absolutely no way that he could do any front to back movement. In an addition, because his knee that was rammed in against the left side of his chest, sometimes his knee was down on the arm or against a chest, so this would’ve had the same effect. Basically on the left side of his long, it was almost like a surgical pneumonectomy. It was almost to the effect as if a surgeon had gone in and removed the lung. There was virtually very little opportunity for him to be able to get any air to move into the left side of his chest. He’s going to be totally dependent on what he’d be able to the right side.

Prosecution: Have you selected any footage from the body cameras that you feel the Mr. Floyd struggles to breathe?

Dr. Tobin: Yes. What I’m seeing is that his left hand is being grabbed by the police officers, so that’s a handcuffed left-hand being pushed into his chest, so he’s just not able to expand that. The Officer has a very firm grasp on Mr. Floyd’s left hand. He’s holding it very firmly. Is a very firm grasp on it. And then Mr. Floyd’s left-hand has been pushed in against his chest. Also, were able to see just on the side that officer Toven’s knee is coming in, and that’s compressing in against his side as well. The ability to expand his left side here is a enormously impaired. You’re also seeing the size of the chain between the two handcuffs, the right side and the left side, is very short, so his whole left arm is also being pulled over, and so it’s preventing him from expanding the right side. I’ve been focusing on the left, but you can also see here that these are impaired, his ability to expand his chest. And of course, the key factor you must keep in mind is it isn’t kind of seen here in one sense is the street. The street is what is having a huge effect because he jammed down the street. So the street is playing a major role in preventing him from expanding his chest and breathing.

George Floyd not only died, but at the hands of Derek Chauvin - the man that the Minnesota Republican convention chose to pay their respects to by a moment of silence - Mr. Floyd died a cruel and excruciating death.

Agnes Callamard, the then United Nations Special Rappatoire for Extra Judicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions worldwide whose job was to investigate unlawful killings by states around the world. She led the UN inquiry into the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi - said for the record, “This was an arbitrary killing, for which the state and police officers must be held accountable. What stood out for me was how long the officer knelt on his neck and his complete indifference. I am horrified because you’re watching people dying in public at the hands of those who are supposed to protect us.”

Janeé Harteau, at the time of Floyd’s murder was Minneapolis Chief of police, said, “This is the most horrific thing I’ve seen in my entire lifetime and my 30 year career in law-enforcement.”

She was talking about the actions of Derek Chauvin - the man the Minnesota Republicans chose to honor.

I’m speechless.

Also in the news, Hegseth Strikes Female and Black Navy Officers From Promotion List.

From the NYT - edited for brevity.

The defense secretary’s decision to block the officers’ promotions appears driven by his anti-diversity stance rather than based on merit.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s removal of at least seven officers from the list appears to violate rules governing the promotion system, according to current and former defense officials.

In a move that disproportionately targets women and minority officers, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recently blocked the promotions of nine Navy officers who had been selected by a board of senior Navy admirals.

The net result of Mr. Hegseth’s intervention is a slate of 22 nominees to be one-star admirals that bears little resemblance to the broader force these officers will help lead.

Three of the officers removed by Mr. Hegseth from the promotion list are women and two are Black men. An additional four are white men.

Mr. Hegseth’s removal of the officers from the one-star list is highly unusual, said current and former defense officials. According to Pentagon rules, the defense secretary is supposed to pull officers from the list only for moral, mental, physical or professional failings that raise questions about the officers’ fitness to lead.

Mr. Hegseth’s actions are the latest in a series of firings and personnel interventions that appear to be driven by his anti-diversity politics rather than the officers’ performance. Taken together, they could reshape the military’s top ranks for years to come.

Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman, declined to say why Mr. Hegseth pulled the officers off the Navy one-star list. “Military promotions are given to those who have earned them,” Mr. Parnell said. “The department will never consider the color of a service member’s skin or their gender as a factor in promotions.” The Navy declined to comment.

Since taking office, Mr. Hegseth has fired or sidelined nearly three dozen senior military officers as part of a broader campaign designed to purge the Pentagon of leaders he has disparaged as “foolish,” “reckless” and “woke.” He has consistently refused to explain why he has chosen to fire officers or pull them from promotion lists.

His scrutiny has fallen heavily on female and minority officers, who have borne the brunt of the dismissals. Nearly 60 percent of the senior officers Mr. Hegseth has fired are female or Black, Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said in recent Senate testimony. Women and minorities currently account for fewer than 20 percent of all generals and admirals.

“You are hollowing out the military’s bench of experience and highest-performing senior officers, while making young officers wonder if they should continue to serve,” Mr. Reed told Mr. Hegseth at another recent hearing.

Among those dismissed were Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., the second African American to serve as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to lead the Navy.

Earlier this year, Mr. Hegseth also removed four colonels — two Black men and two women — from the Army’s list of nominees for one-star general over the objections of Army Secretary Daniel P. Driscoll. Mr. Driscoll insisted that the officers had a long history of exemplary service and had done nothing wrong.

America is a broken country and the fractures between us, especially the long-term racial fractures, make anything that needs repairing just that much harder to repair. And a lot needs to be repaired. Hard to find the time or the partnerships to repair our fractures when we are spending so much time hating and fighting each other. America’s political pendulum doesn’t need a big shift to the left just to inevitably swing back to the right. America needs an honest look at its self and then a big pendulum swing... to the center.

If your circumstances permit, please help us help America.