George Floyd was famous for something he should not have been famous for; his death. Floyd was killed in Minneapolis police custody, where officer Chauvin knelt on his neck, forcing the words “I can’t breathe” out of him. I’m sure most of the protesters saw the gruesome video, and many can conclude that his death was racially motivated. Placing your knee on one’s neck for a prolonged period of time is not a humanly sane thing to do, unless you have a vendetta against either the person, or the color of their skin. But back to the online viewing of the George Floyd video, since it was posted online many people got to see and act upon it. Hence, the media being one of the main culprit behind the global BLM movement.
An example from the podcast that caught my eye was New Zealand and how its police force are unarmed. The people of New Zealand insisted that the police be armed, which is understandable, police are open to stumbling upon anyone. Yet, once Floyd’s death had become known around the world, the New Zealanders were quick to insist that their police force stay unarmed. It took a man’s death for people to wake up and switch narratives, which is great as long as they truly realize the systemic racism that’s present throughout the world.
A movement similar to the modern day BLM movement is the LGBTQ movement which initially started in the 1920s. Back then, people of the LGBTQ community were heavily looked down upon, some were disgusted by it and some were embarrassed by it. The other ‘some’ were brave enough to start organizations for gay rights. People of the LGTBQ were oppressed, not given their basic human rights, one of which was not being able to enlist in the military. This inspired German immigrant Henry Gerber, who founded the Society for Human Rights in Chicago. This led to and inspired people around the world to protest and make sure their voices were heard, eventually legalizing gay marriage in the 2000s.
I also thought it was really interesting how it took a death by the hands of police in the United States for Kiwis to realize that their own police force could use their weapons to take the lives of the tribe members they are prejudiced against. I really enjoyed reading your connection to the LGBTQ+ movement, I did not know how far back that movement started nor the origins of the movement in general.
I definitely agree that the BLM and LGBTQ movements are related, there’s a lot of LGBTQ members that are part of BLM as well. I think an event that was really important for the lgbtq movement was the Stonewall riots in the 60s. Queer people rioted after cops raided a gay bar in new york, and it really brought lgbtq rights forward for the country. Interestingly, the person who threw the first brick was Marsha P Johnson, a black trans woman.
Anyone who is interested in learning more about the history of the relationship between LGBTQ people and the police in New York should check out the book Gay New York, by George Chauncey.