Washington Post’s Tweet Falsely Claiming George Floyd Was Shot Begs An Important Question: What Has Changed Since Then?

I’m fairly certain someone at the Washington Post is back on the job search today after the outlet inaccurately claimed that George Floyd was shot and killed by police:

“On May 25, 2020, George Floyd was shot and killed in police custody. His death sparked outrage, wide scale protests and calls to change policing. Two years later, what has – or hasn’t changed?”

The tweet has since been removed, and the Washington Post addressed the error somewhat.

Besides the glaring mistake or disinformation, whichever term you feel comfortable with, it’s fair to go ahead and examine the heart of the question, what has or hasn’t changed two years later?

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More Death, Less Safety

This past Sunday, Daniel Enriquez was shot in a random act of violence around 11:42 AM. He was riding the Q-line in New York City.

Last month, a man unleashed terror on a subway train in Brooklyn, injuring 23 people. In January, a woman was horrifically pushed in front of a train and to her death by a homeless man in the Big Apple.

Mayor Eric Adams and other leaders have been trying to encourage Americans to come back into the office and embrace a post-pandemic world. But, unfortunately, that’s a hard sell, with transit crime seemingly driving off the rails.

Transit crime rates have risen over pre-pandemic levels in New York City, San Francisco Bay area, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles. 

Murders increased 29% in 2020 from 2019 levels. Calls to defund the police that reverberated across the nation after the murder of George Floyd have since quieted down.

A Pivot By The Left

During his State of the Union, the President called for a $30 billion increase in law enforcement funding, stating:

“Fund our police and give them all the tools they need.”

The President and, to be fair, quite a few Democrats, are starting to read the tea leaves heading into the midterms regarding police reform and funding.

According to a national poll by the University of Massachusetts Amherst, only 31% of Americans support transferring funds from state and local police departments to community social services. 

19 House Democrats support what is known as the Invest to Protect Act. This Act provides local law enforcement departments with additional resources to combat increased crime rates. 

In a letter to House Speak Nancy Pelosi, her fellow Democrats wrote:

“As national crime rates increase, including homicides, car jackings, and assaults, now is the time to support local law enforcement through passage of bipartisan, bicameral commonsense legislation.”

I have a feeling those 19 Democrats probably can’t sit with the Squad in the Congressional Cafeteria.

Speaker Pelosi’s district has seen a marked increase in crime, mainly known as ‘smash and grab’ crimes. The most notable one was the raid on a San Francisco Nordstroms in which two dozen vehicles made off with $200,000 in goods.

That’s a whole lot of scarves and purses.

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A Question of Crime and Punishment

Part of the problem lies with the inability of police departments to retain and recruit officers. As a result, small, medium, and large precincts are feeling the pinch across the country. For example, the San Francisco department lost 600 officers over the past year.

A lot of blame is also pointed at the criminal justice system. Chief of the New York Police Department’s Crime Control and Strategies Michael Lipetri said;

“The rising recidivism in New York City is up substantially from 2019. The data is clear and simple. Individuals that continue to get arrested multiple times continue and continue to commit these crimes.”

Even celebrities are vulnerable to soft-on-crime initiatives and District Attorneys who prefer to downgrade charges. For example, Isaiah Lee, who assaulted Dave Chappelle at a show with a replica gun switchblade, was initially charged with felony assault with a deadly weapon.

However, the state District Attorney referred the case to the city with a recommendation of misdemeanor charges instead. Lee is also suspected of attempting to stab his roommate. 

Latest Phrase Du Jour: “White Guilt Money”

Black Lives Matter garnered mass appeal and notoriety after the death of George Floyd. Celebrities, politicians, and everyday Americans donated to the BLM movement in droves. In addition, corporations fell over themselves to posture as allies of the BLM movement.

However, BLM has had its fair share of controversies, especially regarding how all that donation money was spent. Most of the controversy surrounds co-founder Patrisse Cullors.

Of the information that has come to light, we learned that funds were used to pay her brother Paul Cullors $840,000 for security. In addition, the father of her child Damon Turner received $970,000 for live events and something known as “creative services.” 

And let’s not forget the $6 million property purchased and the trauma she had to endure for not filling out nonprofit tax forms appropriately. 

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The Sad Truth

I don’t know if much has changed, in my opinion. Unfortunately, politicians are still flip-flopping on what they claim to believe in with the hope that our memories are short enough that we continue to vote them into power.

Crime is still terrible for the victims and still plagues major cities across this country, forcing us to adjust how we live our day-to-day lives. 

Police officers are still forced to do more with less, which doesn’t answer the mail on how to effectively and efficiently root out the bad cops from the predominantly good cops.

Organizations advertised as advocates or allies are still not immune to corruption. Unfortunately, they have more in common with the politicians they hound than they would like to admit, and they hope you don’t notice.

The saddest part is that there are still terrible, racist, homicidal maniacs who forever alter the lives of Americans. For example, a white 18-year-old man walked into a grocery store that he had scoped out in advance in a predominantly black neighborhood and murdered ten people.

This mad man authored a 180-page manifesto. He labeled himself as ‘authoritarian left’ and a white supremacist.

Bottom line: nothing much has changed, certainly not for the better. Perhaps we should ditch the rhetoric and tactics employed in this country over the last two years and come up with something different because this isn’t working.