Panorama 2020 E21
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CreativityTranscript
00:00The death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis Police has sparked America's
00:10biggest series of protests over race in a generation, highlighting once again the deep
00:18divide between black and white.
00:25With violent scenes and police forces seemingly out of control, the protests have gone global,
00:35spreading to Britain.
00:44After reporting from America for almost 25 years, on tonight's Panorama, I'll be asking
00:50Could all the soul-searching now lead to change?
00:53Could George Floyd's death finally force America to confront the scourge of racism within?
01:02So today we'll be in the front of the march, and we're not here to be hostile, we're only
01:18here to be just a part of the march really, but if anything do pop up, we're here to make
01:22sure that they know that we're here to stand, alright?
01:27It's come to this, a major American city where ordinary citizens have taken it upon themselves
01:34to police their own streets.
01:39This is Minneapolis in the heart of the Midwest.
01:43Many African Americans here don't trust the city police.
01:53Tyrone Hartwell helps run this group, the Minnesota Freedom Riders.
01:58It was set up days after the death of George Floyd.
02:04Dozens of people wanted to join.
02:09We have a ground team that respond, and we have an air team, just to make sure that we
02:15are all secure and that we're all protected.
02:18We just want to make sure our people are safe.
02:23Today they're patrolling a march commemorating George Floyd's death.
02:27The Freedom Riders say they're afraid for their community.
02:30Hey brother, you gotta go out, thank you.
02:34Some black-owned businesses in their neighborhoods were attacked during the unrest after the
02:39killing, and the Freedom Riders believe it was caused by white supremacists, though that
02:44hasn't been proved.
02:47We all came together and said, listen, we're not going to allow this in our community.
02:52Other minority groups in Minneapolis, Latinos, Native Americans, they have informal patrols
02:58too.
02:59They've all lost faith in the police.
03:01Give it up, give marching for justice.
03:04We've allowed them to do their jobs for years.
03:06And every time we allow them to do their job, another black man end up dead.
03:10Not even just the black men, our black children, our black women.
03:13We as a race, it's like the war is against us.
03:18The open carrying of weapons, handguns, semi-automatic rifles is legal here, as it is in many other
03:25parts of America.
03:27Not everyone in their community approves, but the Freedom Riders insist they're here
03:31to stay.
03:33I used to think that people would feel some type of way seeing us with big rifles, but
03:37a lot of people have warmed up to it.
03:39A lot of people are like, hey, thank you for being a part of the community.
03:42Thank you for protecting us.
03:48We are lost.
03:50We are lost.
03:51And I'm not saying we as, you know, us as a race, but us as a people, us as a world.
03:56We have to come to some kind of coming ground and understand, listen, we are a human race
04:01before we are a color.
04:04These are people who say they have no option but to defend themselves, a consequence of
04:09events one warm Monday evening exactly three weeks ago.
04:20George Floyd's death that day in Minneapolis, caught on camera, is a very public record
04:26of police inhumanity.
04:28With the help of people from the neighborhood where he died, we've pieced together what
04:34happened.
04:37And it all started here at the Cup Foods grocery store.
04:42George came in our establishment maybe once or twice a week.
04:45George was a very bigger sized person.
04:50So he was an intimidating individual, but he was a very nice person.
04:58Mahmoud Aboumayala is the owner of the store, but wasn't there on the evening of May the
05:0325th, when it's alleged George Floyd and two friends attempted to pay for cigarettes with
05:09counterfeit $20 bills.
05:12After Mr. Floyd left the establishment, that's when the authorities were called.
05:19Here, across the road from the store, two shop assistants can be seen challenging the
05:24group.
05:25They call the police, claiming Floyd is drunk.
05:30Later, it was discovered he'd taken drugs.
05:35These CCTV images from Rashad West's restaurant then capture the police arriving.
05:44From what I see, you know, it just looks like they were called to something and they're
05:47kind of talking through it with the people.
05:50To me, they're just pretty like, OK, you know, this is just whatever, let's hurry up
05:54and get this situation under control so they can go on with their day.
06:01Another driver pulls up and films what happens next.
06:06George Floyd is singled out, we don't know why, with two officers pulling him out of
06:11the driver's seat and handcuffing him.
06:15He's then led across the road to a police car, where Officer Derek Chauvin and a colleague
06:21are waiting.
06:24What happens next is very distressing to watch.
06:29Donald Williams was there and witnessed it all.
06:33Once I pulled up to the store, you know, I seen two to three police cars.
06:38You know, I was just like, huh, police are up here, must be doing something.
06:42A prosecutor's report said George Floyd told police he was claustrophobic, so didn't want
06:47to get into the car.
06:50But there's a struggle with the officers, and he somehow ends up on the other side of
06:54the vehicle, on the ground.
06:59He's crying.
07:02Please.
07:04Please.
07:06Please again, please.
07:08Please.
07:09Please again, please.
07:11Please, man.
07:13Please, man.
07:16One eyewitness films while crossing the road.
07:19The footage reveals Derek Chauvin and two other officers pinning George Floyd to the
07:24ground, applying pressure to his neck, chest and legs.
07:29I can't breathe, officer.
07:31Ah.
07:32They will kill me.
07:34They will kill me, man.
07:36I noticed the position of how his knee is on George's floor, his neck, that is actually
07:43cutting off the circulation of his breathing, so he actually can't breathe.
07:48You're a tough guy.
07:50You're a tough guy, huh?
07:52I said you're a tough guy.
07:53He's not even resisting arrest, bro.
07:55His whole nose is red.
07:57I'm, you know, verbally addressing and verbally abusing him and verbally asking to let this
08:03man up.
08:04He ain't doing nothing.
08:06You know, the officer, he looked at me in my eyes, he had no feeling, no heart, no,
08:13no nothing.
08:15I can't breathe.
08:17I've been trying to help out.
08:19I can't breathe.
08:21When I understand how we got from this calm interaction with the police to what I was
08:26seeing about a man struggling or fighting with the cops and then getting killed, I was
08:30like, the two scenarios don't match up.
08:32Like, in a jiu-jitsu move, bro, you trapped him in his breathing right there, bro.
08:37Like, you don't think that's what it is, bro?
08:39Once I said he was doing a blood choke, he just looked me in my face and then he put
08:42his head back down.
08:44He continued to do what he was doing.
08:46Check, the man ain't moving.
08:48Derek Chauvin keeps his knee on George Floyd's neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds.
08:54In Minneapolis, officers were permitted to use neck restraints, but only if the suspect
09:01is actively resisting arrest.
09:05It's clear that wasn't the case with George Floyd, who's handcuffed and says he can't
09:10breathe 16 times.
09:13It just doesn't make sense.
09:15It doesn't make sense.
09:17If you were to look at that video, you can see for yourself, it doesn't, it's so unjust.
09:22It's sickening.
09:24There are several people watching now.
09:27Some are filming.
09:28Despite this, Derek Chauvin continues to keep his knee pressed down on George Floyd, even
09:33after they call for an ambulance.
09:45A paramedic arrives and takes George Floyd's pulse.
09:51He's unconscious, completely unresponsive.
09:54But Chauvin continues the neck restraint for another minute.
10:00Just gonna let him keep his hand on his neck, bro.
10:03Right, he black, they don't care.
10:06An hour later, in hospital, George Floyd is pronounced dead.
10:15You know, I can't do nothing but breathe for George Floyd and his family at this moment
10:20and let the world know his story and the injustice that we have in this country towards African-Americans.
10:33The world needs to understand what's really going on.
10:38I think, I think of myself or one of the other owners were here.
10:41We wouldn't have had to call the authorities.
10:43And calling the police on someone shouldn't equate to a death sentence.
10:46Minneapolis police has sacked all four officers.
10:50Derek Chauvin has been charged with second-degree murder.
10:54Three other officers have been charged with aiding and abetting murder.
11:03George Floyd's death is all the more shocking, because it's just the latest in an endless
11:08line of lives taken by violent cops.
11:12It is part of the black experience, an American tragedy.
11:21How best to bring change?
11:23The protests for justice after George Floyd's death are the biggest in half a century.
11:30In Minneapolis and elsewhere, the first few nights turned violent.
11:35And the police responded.
11:37Get inside!
11:39A curfew was announced, with the National Guard deployed, along with the police.
11:44Get in your house now! Let's go!
11:47Light them up!
11:49Go inside now!
11:51Get in the house!
11:59Peace may now have returned to the city, but the protests continue.
12:03Fanta Diallo was a university student until last year.
12:08Racism in Minnesota is subtle.
12:11It's microaggression.
12:13And where are you from?
12:16In the two weeks after George Floyd's death, she went to protests every day.
12:21And now she and her friends are joining another.
12:25No peace!
12:27No peace!
12:29You're done dying!
12:31Say it like you mean it. We are done!
12:34It's now a grim ritual, the banner waving and calls for justice.
12:38On all too familiar scene in a land where some lives have always been cheaper than others.
12:45The reason it hit all of us the way it did was because George Floyd died.
12:50And the thing is, this happens so many times.
12:53There are so many George Floyds that don't die.
12:56And we're all just like, whatever about it.
12:58But it's like, we shouldn't even get to that point.
13:01We shouldn't even get to the point where a life is taken.
13:04Or like, where a police officer has their knee on the neck of someone.
13:11She wants America to finally live up to its ideas.
13:23It's a really weird experience to be in a crowd of people.
13:26And yell, Black Lives Matter when you're black.
13:29Because you're begging.
13:31You're literally begging systems to believe that your life mattered.
13:40So I want to take Main Street basically.
13:43But we got to cross the bridge though.
13:46How you saying though?
13:48George Floyd's death has been the catalyst for so many people to become activists.
13:53Former pro basketball player Royce White
13:56has organized some of Minneapolis' biggest protests.
14:00When the video first came out, I was obviously angered.
14:05But as the days followed, it changed.
14:08It went from being outraged to being actionable.
14:12Something had to be done.
14:14We proved that we can protest in peace,
14:17despite all the stories that they've showed on the news.
14:19Soon after contacting other former players,
14:22Royce was leading many hundreds of people on a protest.
14:26Down a highway.
14:29We need to start transforming the police department from the inside.
14:36We're absolutely going to keep marching.
14:39There's no reason why we can't march out onto a freeway and stop it if we want to.
14:44You're stopping other citizens from marching.
14:46You're stopping other citizens from going about their daily life.
14:50Your life should be interrupted, because his is over.
14:55Don't think that this George Floyd thing is over by a long shot.
15:05And through the nation's turmoil, what of its leader?
15:09I am your president of law and order.
15:16Donald Trump declared it a security crisis,
15:19raising the stakes with his demand that state governors dominate violent protesters.
15:26He conjured few words to salve racial wounds.
15:32If a city or state refuses to take the actions that are necessary
15:36to defend the life and property of their residents,
15:40then I will deploy the United States military
15:43and quickly solve the problem for them.
15:51And in Washington, D.C., a crowd of peaceful protesters near the White House
15:56was forcibly dispersed,
16:00allowing Mr. Trump to make his way to a church
16:05for a photo opportunity.
16:09It was a damning moment, not only for his presidency,
16:12it is an image that will last for a long time in American history.
16:16You have a president who has not been working to bring more Americans together
16:20and in fact dilute the flames around our division,
16:24but in fact stoking those flames.
16:32The tragedy of George Floyd's life and death
16:35is that it reflected the misfortune of a disproportionate number of black Americans.
16:40He'd been successful in Houston's hip-hop scene,
16:44but spent time in prison for armed robbery and drug offences
16:49before moving to Minneapolis to start a new life.
16:54But the recent lockdown meant he lost his job as a bouncer at a restaurant.
17:03At his memorial service, leading civil rights figures
17:06lamented black society's continued failure to be allowed to enjoy the American dream.
17:13What happened to Floyd happens every day in every area of American life.
17:20It's time for us to stand up in George's name
17:24and say, get your knee off our necks.
17:33But is America finally listening?
17:36Many blue-chip companies have come out in support of the protests.
17:43The American Football League, the NFL,
17:46has apologised for not listening to players who were protesting about racism.
17:53And the multi-billion dollar stock car championships, NASCAR,
17:57has banned the flying of the Confederate flag at race meetings,
18:01seen by many as a symbol of America's slave past.
18:06I was gobsmacked that NASCAR said no more waving Confederate flags.
18:14It's amazing, you know, corporate America's behaving differently.
18:19If you had asked me if so many of these corporations
18:23would come out and say black lives matter two months ago,
18:27I would have said you're nuts.
18:28But there is one section of society
18:31that protesters say needs the most fundamental of overhauls.
18:35Policing.
18:38Donald Williams, who tried to intervene on the day George Floyd died,
18:42says many African-Americans are simply tired of the everyday racism they face
18:47at the hands of the police.
18:49I'm telling my son this since he was a young kid so he can understand.
18:53When it comes to the police,
18:55we talk just a lot about understanding that he's a black male
18:59and that you are targeted as a black male,
19:02that you are not considered a human being.
19:10America's police developed from the patrols that captured runaway slaves.
19:15It's the police that enforced segregation.
19:19They were the personification of white supremacy.
19:22And still today, African-Americans are two and a half times
19:26more likely to die at the hands of a cop than whites.
19:30For too long, some forces have considered themselves
19:34separate from the communities they serve.
19:37Somehow for the people, but not of the people.
19:45I always said that most of the cops in Minneapolis hire
19:48the first time they saw a black person was on TV.
19:52Eric Luke served in the Minneapolis police for 28 years until 2016.
20:00The other black officers, we knew about racism.
20:04We talked about racism.
20:06The white counterparts, some of them don't believe it existed.
20:09You know, they believe that there's no racism on the police department.
20:13You know, they swept it under the rug.
20:16He's got no doubt the events of that day should not have happened.
20:21I've used that knee on the neck several times.
20:26I've used that technique basically to resist an arrest,
20:29you've got to handcuff somebody.
20:31The training is control the head, you control the body.
20:36But eight minutes and 46 seconds, that's the big issue.
20:41The officer who now serves in the Minneapolis police
20:44the officer who knelt on George Floyd's neck
20:47had faced 18 misconduct complaints in a 19 year career.
20:54The last police chief of Minneapolis says she and others tried hard
20:59to transform the force, but powerful police unions resisted change.
21:06When you have union leadership who frankly have so many tools
21:10at their disposal to help officers get their jobs back,
21:14they actually end up having more influence over culture
21:18than a police chief ever will.
21:20She wants national guidelines, better training and less union power.
21:26Frankly, I would have a line of officers and say,
21:29I first and foremost need you to denounce the actions of the officers
21:32that killed George Floyd. If you can do that, you go here.
21:34If not, turn in your bag, you go there. I'm okay with that.
21:38The city council now says it wants to dismantle this 800 strong force
21:44with money diverted to mental health and other services.
21:48A so-called community led public safety system is proposed.
21:53Do you believe this could be a turning point,
21:56not just in terms of American policing,
22:00but also the debate over racism in America?
22:05I do. The right people are having conversations
22:08and understanding that this is not the black and brown issue to fix.
22:14This is for the rest of us who have power that should be making those changes.
22:19It is a fact of life that when you think about it,
22:23while racism is a black issue, it's actually a white problem.
22:28Good morning, Wisconsin. You're listening to News Radio 620 WTMJ.
22:32I'm Charlie Sykes.
22:34Charlie Sykes is a dyed-in-the-wool conservative and Republican,
22:38but not a supporter of Donald Trump.
22:41I first met him four years ago, and now after George Floyd's death,
22:45his outlook on the police has been transformed.
22:49I have been stopped by the police for a variety of things,
22:52mainly things like not having my taillight on or speeding.
22:56I never once thought that the police officer was going to throw me to the ground and handcuff me.
23:01Did you need to see it, Charlie?
23:03Did you need this kind of thing to perhaps make you understand
23:09what African-Americans have been talking about for decade after decade after decade?
23:15Unfortunately, yes. Yes, I did.
23:19White American, you might think, OK, this happens, but it's random.
23:22It's a few bad apples here and there.
23:24But I think that what you've been seeing over the last couple of weeks
23:27is the recognition that it's not just a few bad apples.
23:30It is systemic. It's incredibly widespread.
23:33And that this situation, in fact, we've been in denial on it.
23:39Let me tell you something. We have Ferguson, Minneapolis...
23:43What has been so striking and unprecedented about the George Floyd protests
23:47is the number of white Americans taking to the streets.
23:51People who saw him die and now feel moved to act.
23:56I think back to the 80s, my friends were dating black men
24:00and it was like race doesn't matter anymore.
24:03And I was so pleased with us and thought we had really solved this big problem.
24:10Penny Sitz lives in one of Minneapolis' comfortable suburbs.
24:15What has surprised me in the past week has been seeing how widespread
24:20the abuse is and the brutality is.
24:22This is something I had no idea about.
24:24I knew it happened in a few big cities, but I did not think it was as widespread as it is.
24:28The people united will never be defeated!
24:32Two weeks ago, for the first time in her life, she joined a protest with her family.
24:38There was no good reason not to stand up for this.
24:43It is the time to speak out.
24:45I feel like, just like we learned with these police officers that silence is complicit,
24:49I feel like my silence is complicit.
24:52They can say their names.
24:58She and her daughter proclaim their allegiance.
25:01But for Penny, that's not enough.
25:04She now thinks policing needs an overhaul.
25:07We absolutely cannot go back to just doing things the way we've done them
25:11and say that we need more training.
25:13It is not about more training because it doesn't happen to white men.
25:18It doesn't happen to white men. Why wouldn't it happen to white men?
25:22Not everyone in Minneapolis agrees.
25:26Mike Lehman once stood locally for the Republican Party.
25:32I do not believe Minneapolis has a racism problem.
25:36I believe a few individuals in the police department may have biases,
25:42but I don't know with everything that's been going on.
25:45Maybe he reacted stronger to George Floyd because he was black than he would have otherwise,
25:51but I can't see it as a racial thing.
25:56He believes the officer did use excessive force,
26:00but he's most worried about the looting and rioting that accompanied some protests.
26:07The destruction was ridiculous.
26:10I mean, it makes no sense.
26:12We're going to turn down and burn down and loot and all this to all our businesses?
26:18He supports President Trump's call to deploy the military to restore law and order.
26:23I mean, the president had to take action.
26:27He threatened it and then suddenly the National Guard showed up in force.
26:31They weren't enforcing anything to begin with.
26:35I mean, they were just going to let it go.
26:37And then after more burning and looting, they sent in more National Guard.
26:41Then it became under control.
26:44But Mike Lehman's views now represent a minority in America.
26:49Polls suggest most people believe police forces do have systemic problems with racial bias.
26:57Even conservatives who have been consistently pro-police in their rhetoric,
27:03I think are taken aback by this.
27:05And they're willing to rethink a lot of the things that we might have thought and said in the past.
27:11You now also have a large majority of Americans, particularly college-educated white Americans,
27:16who say racial matters and division is going to play a major part in how they vote this coming November.
27:25So racism and division is going to be on the ballot in America this November.
27:33That's what this movement has meant. That's what this movement has done.
27:39George Floyd's brutal death held up a mirror to this country.
27:42And most Americans didn't like what they saw.
27:46It spoke to black people as the most compelling of cries for equality.
27:52And it spoke to white America, too, imploring people not to look away,
27:57to face the legacy of racism this country endures.
28:01If lasting change does come, it will be because of one man's death,
28:07which in eight minutes and 46 seconds raised hopes of bridging a racial divide.
28:27David Olushoga looks back at a thousand years of black and British history.
28:32That's over on BBC4 now.
28:34You