US Civil Unrest Event
The student will provide an in-depth analysis of the May 25, 2020, US Civil Unrest event starting with an overview of the event. The student will analyze the use of all phases of emergency management (mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery and the subcomponents found in each phase as was examined in the Examining Disaster Management Paper Assignment) as much as is applicable to each based on the event. Please the attached assignment instructions and rubric for details.
Analysis/Critique of the May 25, 2020, US Civil Unrest Event
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Analysis/Critique of the May 25, 2020, US Civil Unrest Event
Over the years, fatal police shootings in the United States continue to show no signs of decreasing, where several civilians have been shot out, of whom the majority are Black. Lipscomb's (2019) study shows that the rate of lethal police killings amongst Black Americans is much greater than other ethnicities at 13% of the population. Black men and boys are more prone to dying than white men and boys. Besides, black individuals are more likely to be unarmed during police brutality than white people. Other ethnic groups, including Native American men, women, children, and Latino men and boys, are also at increased risk of death due to police violence than whites. This paper provides an in-depth analysis of the May 25, 2020, US civil unrest event.
Overview of the Event
The Murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, by Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) officer Derek Chauvin at 38th Street and Chicago Avenue marked the start of major US civil unrest. Floyd was allegedly arrested for using a $20 counterfeit to pay his bill (Perez, 2021). George Floyd lost consciousness and repeatedly pleaded that he could not breathe (Perez, 2021). Chauvin and three other police officers present during the occasion were fired the next day. MPD released an initial statement to the media the following day stating that Floyd's death was a medical emergency. Several news items testified about the murder of George Floyd.
These media items encountered substantial internal and external challenges in reporting the demonstration waves that spread across the US and abroad. Journalists faced attack and arrest either verbally, online, or physically. Chauvin was accused of second-degree manslaughter, second-degree felony murder, and third-degree murder, and the other three police were charged with supporting both second-degree manslaughter and second-degree murder (Eligon et al., 2021). On May 27, the Minnesota State Patrol directed troopers to block intersections and standing parameters at the 3rd Precinct. The unrest saw staff evacuate the 3rd Precinct station, the focus of several demonstrations. Livestream videos portrayed protesters entering the building where fire alarms rang out and sprinklers ran as blazes were set. This police murder was one of the actions that sparked American and global civil unrest in 2020 associated with police brutality and systematic and institutional racism.
As the racial justice activists began in the streets to protest against the murder of Floyd, then-president Donald Trump