Pig Chauvin Sentenced for Murdering George Floyd

June 28, 2021 | revcom.us

 

The pig who so heartlessly murdered George Floyd, suffocating Floyd on the street for over nine minutes for absolutely nothing, was sentenced last week to 22.5 years in prison. With “good behavior,” Chauvin could be out in 15 years.

It is virtually certain that Chauvin would not have been arrested—let alone tried, found guilty, and given a significant sentence—without the courage of the young woman (Darnella Frazier) who videoed the crime and without the worldwide outrage and uprising that followed. This struggle, as it picked up momentum, called fundamental things about this society into question, opening eyes and minds here and around the world.

This is important: it showed the potential power of the people when they refuse to tolerate any longer what has gone on for decades and centuries.

It is also virtually certain that between the day this sentence was handed down and the time you read this, more people—disproportionately Black, Latino and Native American, as well as other oppressed nationalities, at the rate of roughly three a day—will have died at the hands of these pigs. And this does not count the uncountable “everyday” instances of brutality, abuse and harassment that these pigs also bring down against oppressed nationalities.

This too is important: it shows that so long as this capitalist-imperialist system stands, no matter how much struggle is waged to reform it, for just so long the white supremacy so tightly woven into it will be violently defended. The kind of terror and violence recorded on that Minnesota street is built into this system, and can only be uprooted by revolution.

To those who took part in or were inspired by the uprising of last summer, and still hunger for an end to police terror and institutionalized racism: the possibility to make this revolution is not only real, but the uprising of last summer shows in part why it is real. Listen to this, from “A Declaration, A Call To Get Organized For A REAL Revolution”:

We have seen the potential for revolution powerfully demonstrated just last summer when millions of people, of all races and genders, all over this country, and all around the world, rose up together against racist oppression and police murder. We have seen this potential in the mass outpourings of women, in countries all over the world, refusing to put up with being abused and degraded. This potential is also revealed in the deep distress being expressed, by scientists and millions of ordinary people, about the continually worsening climate crisis and the threat this poses to the future of humanity—a crisis this system cannot solve, but can only make worse. But, with all this, right now only a small number of us have recognized the need for this revolution and are acting to make it happen. So there is crucial work that must be done now to win people to understand the need for revolution and act to make it real—to turn the potential for revolution into a powerful movement and organized force for an actual revolution.

The situation is urgent. The time is now. Get organized.

Watch the RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show Episode 54: 1 Year Ago Police Killed George Floyd; 100 Yrs Ago Tulsa Massacre; Now Organize 4 Revolution!