The Signpost

Gallery

After the killing of George Floyd

George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis on the night of May 25, 2020. His death was ruled a homicide by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner. Floyd was in police custody at the time of his death. Videos and this photo show a police officer kneeling on Floyd's neck at about the time of his death. Four officers have been charged in the death. The Signpost is sorry that we can't publish the "fair use image" linked above because it is not freely licensed for publication in The Signpost. But the protests and related events following Floyd's death were photographed and the photos uploaded to Wikimedia Commons many thousands of times. We present a sample of those photos.

People often say that "photographs don't lie," but every photograph has a point-of-view. Every photographer has a point-of-view, as much as they might try to hide it. Every editor who needs to select photos for The Signpost has a point-of-view. As much as we try to be neutral in this photo essay, the best we can do is to try to present many different points-of-view. There are no neutral positions in many of the issues raised by the death of George Floyd.

Thousands of protests against police violence were held throughout the world. Most were peaceful, some were not. The National Guard was deployed in some US states and in Washington, D.C. We can only hope that people do not blame all police, all protesters, or all National Guardsmen for the violence and destruction that took place.

The problem of police violence, especially the problem of police violence against Black people, will have to be dealt with by politicians by political means. In a democracy "politics" should not be a dirty word.

Why does any of this matter? Black lives matter. Of course all lives matter, but Black people are those being killed on a regular basis by police in America. The living matter too. Our lives going forward will all be better if all the people involved in these protests can respect all the other people involved.

Photographers:
  • 2C2K Photography
  • Andrew
  • Jules Antonio
  • Anonymous Indianapolis Social Worker
  • Daniel Arauz
  • BAMCorp
  • Elvert Barnes
  • Paul Becker (Becker1999)
  • Senator Cory Booker
  • Maj. William Carraway, Georgia Army National Guard
  • Shealah Craighead, Chief Official White House Photographer
  • cspirtos
  • Chad Davis
  • dsgetch
  • Fibonacci Blue
  • geoffalexander4
  • Hungryogrephotos
  • Leonhard Lenz
  • Mayopotato
  • Brett Morrison
  • Phoebe
  • Rhododendrites
  • Staff Sgt. Jeremiah Runser, US Army
  • mark sebastian
  • Mike Shaheen
  • Lorie Shaull
  • SounderBruce
  • Stateriotismx
  • tedeytan
  • Vasanthtcs
  • The White House videographer
  • Stan Wiechers
  • Travis Wise
  • yashmori
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deisenbe (talk) 20:01, 28 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

  • While blacks are disproportionately killed by police in the US, the above gallery states that, "Blacks are the people being killed on a regular basis by police in America." This is not correct. According to the statistics, U.S. Police Shootings: Blacks Disproportionately Affected there have been 1,252 black people killed by police since 2015. That also includes justified and unjustified. While the deaths per million are higher than whites and Hispanics, it is not a regular occurrence that someone, let alone a specific minority is being killed by the police. Also, I would like to point out this peer reviewed study that showed that there is no correlation to the race of the police officer and police shootings. The study found that the number one factor in determining if a police shooting will happen is crime rate, not race of the officer. Officer characteristics and racial disparities in fatal officer-involved shootings Again, this has nothing to do with minimizing police brutality or prosecuting misconduct, but we should be careful with our words. People are not being killed on a regular basis, whether by police or by citizens, and it's wrong to spread misinformation like that. Sir Joseph (talk) 05:36, 29 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]
If my understanding of your numbers is correct - 1,252 Black Americans killed by police 2015-2019, then the weekly average is (1,252/5)/52 = 4.8. In the non-technical meaning of the word, that sounds pretty "regular" to me. Smallbones(smalltalk) 13:35, 29 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]
That's not as of 2019, it's as of May 28, 2020, which the Statista points out. So your numbers are a bit off. And, as those numbers also show, raw killings, it doesn't differentiate between justified and unjustified. Once you factor in unjustified killings, like Floyd's, the number goes down even more. Sir Joseph (talk) 15:39, 29 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]
@Sir Joseph: The rate for black people in America isn't just "higher" (as you wrote), it's 2.5 times higher, which seems to be a rather important detail that you left out. Kaldari (talk) 23:20, 1 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]
How did I leave that out if it's from a different source? Sir Joseph (talk) 23:24, 1 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  • I assume that the first image refers to the song Hell You Talmbout. Of course since the song was created before this current death, George Floyd isn't in the article. Names are being added to that list as needed. This image can even find a place in that song article; I guess I will go ahead and add it. DTM (talk) 03:59, 1 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    • I didn't know the song, but it looks interesting. The names on the first 5 lines of the sign all look like people who were killed in the past 5 years, below that my eyes and memory fade. Smallbones(smalltalk) 04:07, 1 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]
@DiplomatTesterMan: I'm listening to the song and I'm skeptical of a connection. The names are just the commonly-spread well-known instances of recent killings of African Americans, and "say their names" or "say his/her name" is just one of the many things chanted in the protests, or said to the police officers during them. I think any correlation with the song is a coincidence? ɱ (talk) 18:33, 1 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, it may just be a coincidence. DTM (talk) 02:03, 2 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]
I read "being killed on a regular basis by police in America". This is a very wrong. The given link is Lists of killings by law enforcement officers in the United States, not in America. There are many countries in America, not only the United States. Smallbones must change that. Cantons-de-l'Est (talk) 21:20, 23 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Great photographs! Thanks for compiling this gallery of high quality pictures (+ video) on this important event.--Discott (talk) 15:00, 28 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

















Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2020-06-28/Gallery