Monday, April 5, 2021

Derek Chauvin's defense team dusts off the "myth of the supernegro" in former Minneapolis cop's murder trial for the racially charged death of George Floyd

George Floyd arrest

 

Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, on trial in the death of George Floyd, is employing a defense that focuses largely on "the myth of the supernegro," according to a report at Mother Jones (Mojo). Writes Nathalie Baptiste:

“This was not an easy struggle,” said Eric Nelson, the attorney for the cop who killed George Floyd. In his opening statement in the trial of Derek Chauvin, Nelson was at pains to portray the events of May 25, 2020, as a struggle between a powerful brute and a law enforcement official trying to do his job. He wanted the jurors to visualize Floyd, pinned to the ground and struggling for air, as bigger, taller, stronger than Chauvin, the man whose knee was on Floyd’s neck. He wanted them to understand that Floyd’s size alone meant he was a threat. 

“You will see that three Minneapolis police officers could not overcome the strength of Mr. Floyd,” Nelson told the jury. Then he provided the tale of the tape, like some boxing promoter trying to hype the underdog: “Mr. Chauvin stands 5-foot-9, 140 pounds. Mr. Floyd is 6-3, weighs 223 pounds.”

And with that, the myth of the supernegro had arrived in court. The argument the defense was making was essentially that this Black man was so large, so powerful, and so dangerous that the only thing the tiny white cop could do to stop him was to kill him.

Is this a new theme on the American? Not at all, writes Baptiste; in fact, it has a lengthy history:

The idea that Black people have superhuman abilities dates back to the days of slavery. In 1811, an unnamed doctor in London published a book called Practical Rules for the Management and Medical Treatment of Negro Slaves. In it, he posits that slaves’ bodies were “much less exquisite” than white ones and thus they didn’t feel pain; they didn’t die from infections that white people died from; and they didn’t fear death. “It is certainly a very great [advantage] to be able to face death, the inevitable lot of all, as they do, not only without dismay, but with an indifference,” the author writes. To this day, many doctors believe Black people have a higher pain tolerance. And studies have shown that many people, including other Black people, believe Black people are stronger, faster, and more dangerous than other races. In the real world, this idea can be and often is fatal for Black people.

It’s clear that the defense wants the jury to see Floyd as a combative drug user who had to be restrained lest he become violent. Intimations of his vulnerability had to be banished from the record. While cross examining Genevieve Hansen, a firefighter who witnessed Floyd’s death, Nelson asked about Narcan, a nasal spray used to reverse opioid overdoses. “You’ve had a lot of experience with people overdosing—people become combative when revived?” he asked. “Not often. But it happens,” Hansen replied. In an earlier statement, Hansen had described Floyd as small. “Did you describe Floyd as a small, slim man?” Nelson asked her, implying that Floyd was anything but. Hansen acknowledged that she had, saying he appeared to be small with three grown men on top of him.

In the world evoked by the defense, the cops were innocents doing their civic duty with savagery all around them. Nelson tried to portray the bystanders as an unruly and angry crowd, attempting to interfere with police work. As he cross-examined Donald Williams, a Black man who witnessed Floyd’s death, he repeatedly asked Williams if he was “angry.” Williams responded calmly, “No, you can’t paint me out as angry,” knowing full well that being portrayed as an angry Black man would harm his credibility.

A black man, it seems, is prone to become a "supernegro" when confronted with a white police officer:

Chauvin is not the first police officer to perceive a Black person as a threat. In 2014, white police officer Timothy Loehmann fatally shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice, who was playing in a park with a toy gun. The police officer later said that he thought Rice was an adult. That same year, a white cop named Darren Wilson drew on the same racist stereotypes in his testimony before a grand jury investigating his shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. “I felt like a 5-year-old holding on to Hulk Hogan,” said Wilson, only an inch shorter than Brown. 

Does the "supernegro" myth make sense, is it based on consistency? Nope, writes Baptiste:

Of course there’s a glaring inconsistency in the defense’s arguments. On the one hand, we have the superhuman Black man, whose immeasurable strength left the cop with no choice but to kneel on Floyd’s neck until he died. On the other, we have the argument that originated in the right-wingosphere and was suggested by Nelson on Monday: that Floyd was under the influence of opioids when he died. Floyd did, in fact, have a substance abuse problem. And while the state of Minnesota is arguing that Floyd died due to excessive force at the hands of Chauvin, the ex-cop’s lawyer said in court that Floyd died due to a combination of drug intoxication, heart disease, and an enlarged heart. In other words, Floyd was so weak that anything, even a routine stop by a police officer, could kill him.

So which is it? Was Floyd a superhuman Black man incapable of feeling pain or was he one normal interaction away from death?

Many of the bystanders who testified in court were brought to tears recalling the day. Darnella Frazier, a teenage witness who recorded video of Floyd’s killing, was in tears as she explained the lasting trauma from that day. Her 9-year-old cousin told the court she felt “sad and kind of mad because it felt like [Chauvin] was stopping his breathing and he was kind of hurting him.” Another teen, identified only as Alyssa, said she was “emotionally numb” in the days after Floyd’s death. 

It’s not the first time this trope will be deployed against Black people, and it certainly won’t be the last. But still there was something so jarring to listen to children and adults testify tearfully about what they witnessed at the scene of George Floyd’s death and to understand what Nelson was saying: Floyd, gasping for air, crying out in pain, calling out for his mother, was the angry, aggressive, combative one, a man so powerful that if Chauvin had removed his knee, well, that’s when the real danger would’ve begun.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

In the video I've seen of Floyd inside the store, he doesn't look all that big or powerful. But Chauvin looks much bigger than listed in video with his knee on Floyd's neck. Are my eyes playing tricks on me.

legalschnauzer said...

My eyes reached the same conclusion. Maybe it's a matter of the position they were in at the time videos were taken.

legalschnauzer said...

@10:16 --
Our eyes weren't the only ones to deceive us . . .

It’s clear that the defense wants the jury to see Floyd as a combative drug user who had to be restrained lest he become violent. Intimations of his vulnerability had to be banished from the record. While cross examining Genevieve Hansen, a firefighter who witnessed Floyd’s death, Nelson asked about Narcan, a nasal spray used to reverse opioid overdoses. “You’ve had a lot of experience with people overdosing—people become combative when revived?” he asked. “Not often. But it happens,” Hansen replied. In an earlier statement, Hansen had described Floyd as small. “Did you describe Floyd as a small, slim man?” Nelson asked her, implying that Floyd was anything but. Hansen acknowledged that she had, saying he appeared to be small with three grown men on top of him.

Anonymous said...

Has it ever been proven that Floyd actually tried to pass the counterfeit bill?

legalschnauzer said...

@1:31 --

You ask a darned good question, and I don't know the answer. The term "knowingly," going to intent, usually is part of most criminal statutes. So the question should be," Did Floyd knowingly try to pay with a counterfeit bill?"

legalschnauzer said...

@1:31 --

I don'r know much about the counterfeiting statute under Minnesota law, but it seems to be the kind of crime that requires some investigation before there is probable cause to arrest someone. So, I think your question goes to probable cause. For example, did Floyd "knowingly try to pass the bill. Did the shop clerks, who apparently were fairly busy at the time, certain the bill came from Floyd and not someone else? Was Floyd connected to a counterfeiting operation? If not, how did he get the bill?

The officers seemed awfully quick to make an arrest for an offense that raises a lot of questions and is not necessarily clear-cut.

legalschnauzer said...

Seems to me it would be easy for any of us to use a counterfeit bill and not know we had it. From video I've seen, Floyd did not seem in a hurry to leave the scene. He was sitting in his vehicle when cops tapped on the window. Will be interesting to see if any of these issues come up at trial.

legalschnauzer said...

It seems the only probable cause the officers had was a statement from the clerk and the owner of the shop. That doesn't seem too definitive for an offense like counterfeiting (if, indeed, that's what the offense is called in Minnesota; need to research that.

Anonymous said...

It's not clear to me that Floyd even knew why he was being arrested.

legalschnauzer said...

From a report about fake currency and George Floyd death:

Counterfeit bills circulated in the Minneapolis neighborhood around Cup Foods before an alleged $20 forgery led to George Floyd's death in police custody on Memorial Day.

"I've seen my share of counterfeit bills," said P.J. Hill, a resident of the neighborhood, community leader and a member of the Worldwide Outreach for Christ Ministries located across the intersection from Cup Foods, where the report of the fake bill was made to police.

Two other nearby business owners said they did not have a problem with counterfeits or know they were an issue.

Floyd allegedly used a counterfeit bill to buy cigarettes at the convenience store last week. The clerk reported it to police, a step that management described as store policy in Facebook posts.

"It went from a counterfeit bill, to a man being killed, to millions of people around the nation just hurting," Hill said. "Then to people being angry and responding in a militant way and destroying, burning cities. Then to a grieving and trying to protest."

"You just think about that, all from a counterfeit bill," Hill said.

In Minnesota, the highest penalty for knowingly using counterfeit money less than $1,000 is up to 1 year in prison and a fine up to $3,000.

Public officials have been mum on the location of the alleged counterfeit, citing ongoing investigations and lawsuits.

A spokesman for the Minneapolis Police Department referred a reporter the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

"Under Minnesota law, the BCA is unable to discuss evidence or details of an open and active investigation," wrote BCA Public Information Officer Jill Oliveira in an email response to USA TODAY.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison will help prosecute Chauvin, who is charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Spokesman John Stiles said officials couldn't comment on investigative data.


https://www.sctimes.com/story/news/2020/06/03/what-we-know-fake-currency-and-george-floyds-death-minneapolis-counterfeit-police/5310999002/

legalschnauzer said...

More on fake currency in George Floyd case:

In the 911 transcript a Cup Foods clerk told the dispatcher: "Um, someone comes our store and give us fake bills and we realize it before he left the store, and we ran back outside, they was sitting on their car."

A former employee and customer of the shop Angel Stately told the New York Times she saw the bill and the ink was running on it. Stately could not be reached for additional comment.

Cup Foods owner Mahmoud Abumayyaleh questioned whether Floyd even knew he used a counterfeit, in a statement posted on Facebook Sunday. He told TRT, a Turkish public broadcast service, that normally officers ask a few questions about counterfeits, "put it in a bag and take it."

"As a check-cashing business, this is a routine practice for us: we report forged money, then the police come and ask patrons about the bill to trace its origin. Upon receiving a counterfeit bill from George Floyd, one of our employees called the police in accordance with this procedure," according to the statement on Facebook.

Dalfonzo Credit described the alleged fake $20 bill as a "nudge" that pushed police over the edge. He lives in the area and said Floyd's death is not the first problem with the Minneapolis Police Department.

"It kind of feels like a drop in the bucket," Credit said. He's never seen a $20 counterfeit, but he's seen other fakes.

"Most stores are catching bills nowadays. It's never been a problem where the police have been called," he said.

Hamza Refaya, owner of Mill City Auto Body less than a block north of Cup Foods, and his brother-in-law Moses Wazwaz, said they have not had any issues with counterfeits or heard of any issues with them before Floyd's arrest and death.

Cubtan Nur runs a business a few doors south of Cup Foods called Axis Home PCA Agency, which does not rely on cash transactions. She's been there two years.

"This is the first time I'm hearing (about counterfeits)," Nur said.

To Hill, the church member and resident, using fake bills is not right. But he understands why people with low incomes would use a counterfeit, especially during the COVID-19 outbreak when many have lost jobs and income.

legalschnauzer said...

UK Independent: Minneapolis police officer Thomas Lane didn’t check George Floyd’s ‘counterfeit’ $20 note

The alleged counterfeit $20 bill used by George Floyd wasn't inspected or collected before his fatal arrest in Minneapolis, according to one of the first officers at the scene.

Former police officer Thomas Lane said in newly-released audio that he didn't obtain the bill before, during or after the incident that led to Mr Floyd's death on 25 May.

In response to questioning by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, Mr Lane said that he didn't look at the alleged $20 forgery being held by the Cup Foods worker identifying Mr Floyd.

"We were more concerned with a least attaining that person on suspicion of passing a counterfeit bill and then figuring out the validity of the bill," Mr Lane can be heard in the audio recording.

When asked if the bill was later collected, Mr Lane said: "I think it was. I'm not sure."

Mr Lane's attorney has submitted in previous court filings photos showing crumpled $20 and $1 bills on the inside of Mr Floyd's car.

legalschnauzer said...

This is from the Minnesota Counterfeiting of Currency statute:

Subd. 3.Uttering or possessing.

Whoever, with intent to defraud, utters or possesses with intent to utter any counterfeit United States postal money order, United States currency, Federal Reserve note, or other obligation or security of the United States, having reason to know that the money order, currency, note, or obligation or security is forged, counterfeited, falsely made, altered, or printed, is guilty of offering counterfeited currency and may be sentenced as provided in subdivision 4.

Note the "having reason to know" language.


https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/609.632