Trump's 'twisting' of George Floyd protest narrative is based on lies and disdain, attempt to escape culpability
The black community in America reached a tipping point on May 26 when they watched disturbing footage of an unarmed black man, George Floyd, dying in police custody as he gasped and begged to an officer, saying, "I can't breathe." The video was familiar, eerily reminiscent of the 2014 death of Eric Garner, another unarmed black man, who also died in police custody begging for air to breathe, and many other black victims of police brutality. Hundreds of people poured out on the streets of Minneapolis protesting and demanding justice for Floyd. As the protests intensified, instances of rioting and looting in the region were also reported.
Within days, the Minneapolis protest burgeoned into a movement, with Black Lives Matter demonstrations spreading across the country, seeking justice and reforms from those in power. The President of the United States, Donald Trump, and many of his Republican allies, however, chose to focus on the riots instead of the larger message of systemic racism that the protests espoused. Trump's inflammatory statement, referring to the protesters as "thugs," led to an abrupt change in narrative of the nationwide protests as many began to debate on the rioting. Suddenly, hundreds in America appeared more concerned about the damaged buildings and property than the oppression of the black community.
The narrative retrogression triggered a discourse of the rioters and looters' intent, as many clubbed them with the protesters. While some, in solidarity with the protesters, classified the incidents as anti-capitalistic demonstrations, and an expression of economic distress and rage of a community that has been sidelined for decades. With the main agenda of the widespread protests appearing to slip away, the leaders of the movement since then have issued clarifications distancing their protests from the looters and urging people to stay focused on demanding permanent federal reforms. However, the leaders in power continue to disregard the demands, with Trump threatening to flood the streets of America with military forces to "control" the protesters.
Experts believe that the "twist" in narrative of the protests is merely a way for those in power, like Trump, to escape culpability and self-reflection at a time when thousands across the world are demanding answers.
"Those who historically and brutally secured power in our country had created a mechanism that allows their predecessors of today to continue a legacy of controlling the narrative as it relates to those under their thumb of oppression," Terence Fitzgerald, an expert in Reproduction of Racism in US Society and Institutional Oppression, University of Southern California told MEA WorldWide. "Today we see those in power escaping the forces of critical self-reflection by twisting and molding a narrative based on misdirection, lies, and disdain."
"The false narrative is then spoon-fed to an eager public who cease to critically analyze what is being fed due to their intergenerational inheritance of hate and consequential negative predisposition toward the historical "Other" (ie., First people, Blacks, Latinos, and etc.)," the professor added. "What is said from those in power, therefore, becomes 'truth.' This narrative not only frees those such as Trump, from culpability through the lens of the public, but also within their own souls."
Trump, during his term as president, has often appeared to negate protests against police brutality and systemic racism in the country. The Republican, infamously, had slammed peaceful NFL protesters, who kneeled during the national anthem to protest police brutality. Trump, in retaliation, called for the owners of the NFL teams to fire the players who were participating in it. A year later, the president appeared to justify a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, which resulted in the death of a counterprotester by saying there were "fine people on both sides."