Moving the trial out of Minneapolis means that it would take place in an even whiter part of Minnesota, seeing as the lion share of Black people living in the state call Hennepin County home.
That prospect came after the Minneapolis council moved to defund the city’s police department, a move that statistics show has not been embraced in other parts of Minnesota — potentially where Floyd’s case could be moved if Cahill holds true to his words.
Taken together, moving Floyd’s case into a whiter portion of the state that is pro-police amid widespread scrutiny of laws enforcement could foster an environment that does not deliver justice for a handcuffed Black man who died face-down on the pavement with a cop’s knee on his neck over the nonviolent (and still unproven) suspicion of using a counterfeit $20 bill.
Floyd died on Memorial Day after now-fired Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin applied deadly pressure with his knee to Floyd’s neck despite Floyd’s repeated pleas for his life and assertions that he could not breathe.
Onlookers filming the death that a medical examiner called a homicide told Chauvin he was killing Floyd, but the police officer, with hands in his pockets as he casually killed an unarmed Black man in broad daylight, would not be deterred.
