The moment George Floyd, an African American, was pinned under the knee of a white police officer for tragic 9 minutes, 29 seconds on May 25, 2020, marked an indelible moment in the annals of American history. This horrific event, unfolding on the streets of Minneapolis, was etched into the consciousness of the nation within a few transient hours. Observations of silence, lasting the exact duration of Floyd’s torment, were held in a myriad of places including the New York Stock Exchange and the United States Congress, as well as public demonstrations across the United Kingdom within two weeks.
By the time July 2020 rolled around, an estimated 26 million Americans had shown their support in over 4,700 organised protests. The UK bore witness to hundreds of thousands of individuals attending rallies supporting racial justice from Bristol to Birmingham to Belfast, a mobilisation much larger than the Rock Against Racism movement of the 1970s. Globally, protests were recorded in a staggering 93 countries. The sheer size of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement was daunting. However, just as quickly as the fervor emerged, it began to recede.
Half a decade after these pivotal events in 2020, what indeed is the enduring legacy of George Floyd in the US and the UK? Were the BLM protests a fleeting wave of outrage, or did they ignite a genuine change-driving movement? A stark appraisal of BLM initiatives in America suggests a stark divergence from original intentions. Oxford University’s Junior Research Fellow in sociology, Mathis Ebbinghaus, has investigated BLM’s impact through an analysis of police budgets from 2018 to 2021 in 264 prime cities in the US.
In the meantime, evidence from a Washington Post database uncovers a disturbing trend: American police have consistently caused more than 1,000 fatalities per year since 2015. Alarmingly, the propensity for African Americans to fall victim is over twice that of their white counterparts. In 2024, a record-breaking 1,173 police shootings culminated in fatalities.
Contrarily, efforts to reform the police in the UK have been conceivably grounded in reality, however, with only slightly more accomplishment. Triggered in part by the murder of George Floyd, and amplified by the historical tension between the police and Black communities, the National Police Chiefs’ Council along with the College of Policing unveiled the Police Race Action Plan (PRAP) in May 2022.
Fast forward three years, the impact of the PRAP has been dubious at best, despite the latest reports indicating some degree of improvement. This includes the increase in the dismissal of personnel on grounds of discriminatory behaviour, a reduction in stop and search incidents involving Black citizens and a slight increase in Black police officers. However, for many, these improvements are far from satisfactory.
Escalating frustration is noticeable on the Left, who consider this period an unutilised opportunity for comprehensive police reform. The height of this sentiment reached corporate domains, where it clashed with a rising counteraction in the recent months. More than $340 billion was committed by companies within three years after Floyd’s death to tackle racial injustice, enforced through initiatives like setting diversity targets and initiating new training programmes.
However, not all employees were comfortable with the implications of this newfound recognition. There were indications in 2024 of a significant lull in the surge of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), with positions in this domain facing a turnover rate double that of other roles.
In the UK, George Floyd’s demise was primarily embraced through the lens of social media, root of real-time news for many. Stimulated to express their support for racial fairness, countless social media users took part in the global effort known as Blackout Tuesday in June 2020, featuring black squares on their profiles.
However, the BLM movement may have suffered detriments from many angles, spanning politics to police reform, corporate settings to education establishments – primarily due to the widely misunderstood adoption of the ‘critical race theory’, an examination of systemic racism, which sparked an intense rebuttal in America.
Grassroots efforts continue to offer glimmers of hope and progress representing local activism, mutual aid initiatives and youth-driven movements. Perhaps the true legacy of the BLM movement lies not in government action but in local communities persistently striving for justice.
The fundamental ethos of BLM – justice, safety, and dignity – still echoes loudly and continue to be fiercely fought for. It’s crucial to understand that progress may not always follow a straight-line path or happen instantaneously, and that its impact may take a while to become apparent.
Floyd’s legacy, therefore, might not be wholly epitomised in swift political changes but more so in the sustained push for justice from grassroots movements. In essence, attributing a legacy to a man can be a much more prolonged process than taking his life.
The post Assessing the Enduring Impact of George Floyd’s Tragic Death appeared first on Real News Now.
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