The brutal death of unarmed black man George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer on May 25 touched off worldwide protests against racial injustice and police brutality. The epicenter: the small Minneapolis neighborhood surrounding 38th and Chicago where Floyd was killed.
“The people in that neighborhood, it’s such a tight-knit community,” said Zach Green of Peterborough. Until moving back home a few months ago, Green lived, two blocks away from the Cup Foods where Floyd’s alleged crime – passing a counterfeit $20 – was committed, and where he died under Officer Derek Chauvin’s knee.
“I’d go there at night to get food,” Green said, describing the store as a multipurpose location where locals can grab a snack, get their phone repaired or visit the store’s basement mosque. “I kind of knew instantly, knowing Minneapolis, that this wasn’t going to go over easy.”
In 2016, Green stood with thousands in Minneapolis protesting the death of Philando Castile, another black man shot dead by police. Protesters blocked Interstate 94, shouting for justice.
“I saw many black women, black men, screaming with megaphones, crying with their hearts in their throats,” Green said. “That pain, you can’t understand that pain, but you can see it, and it sent shockwaves through me. I think at that moment I started to understand that that pain is going to manifest itself into pain and uprising.”
The officer who shot Castile dead was acquitted of all charges; the city settled a three-million dollar lawsuit with his family, but the fuse was lit.
“It was a matter of time,” Green said. “Black bodies are being killed and violence has been carried out by the law toward that community forever…no one should be surprised by what’s going on.”
“I want to assure the public here in this community that we condemn those actions,” said Peterborough Police Chief Scott Guinard Tuesday. “As a police chief and as a member of the New Hampshire Association of Chiefs of Police Association, both myself and the entire association condemn the action of the Minneapolis police officer. As an association our thoughts and prayers go out to the family his friends and the citizens of Minneapolis.”
Jaffrey Police Chief Todd Muilenberg said that Officer Chauvin’s deadly actions were a demonstration of “how not to handle an incident.”
“The video that I saw showed improper tactics and a total disregard for Mr. Floyd’s welfare,” Muilenberg said Wednesday. “The reason for Mr. Floyd’s arrest is immaterial. The fact is that as officers it is our responsibility to safeguard the welfare of people in our custody. That clearly did not happen and had tragic results.”
NHACOP president and Hanover Police Chief Charlie Dennis issued a statement last week urging New Hampshire officers to “always stand up for injustice.”
“The horrific acts that resulted in Mr. Floyd’s death should shake every law enforcement officer in the United States to their core,” the statement reads. “This tragedy is a call to action that should resonate with every chief down to the newest officer; to support the principals and ideals of community policing; to ensure the structures, programs and systems are in place to prevent such tragedies from occurring.” The statement condemned Chauvin’s actions as well as the three Minneapolis officers with him who stood by while Floyd struggled for his last breaths.
“The actions of Derek Chauvin and the other officers that day broke the public faith and trust that was given to them when they swore their oath and pinned a badge on their uniform,” Dennis’ statement reads. “Their despicable action and inaction have fractured the faith and trust in all law enforcement officers by the public who expects us to protect and serve everyone, even those in our custody.”
Guinard told the Ledger-Transcript that he understands the distrust people have in law enforcement following the events in Minneapolis.
“I feel like it’s fractured the faith and the trust that people have in law enforcement, almost like a stigma,” Guinard said. He said that over the years, his department has “never had any serious complaints of racism or excessive force.”
“We don’t put up with racism,” Guinard said.
Muilenberg explained that if a Jaffrey officer was accused of a racist action, an internal investigation would be immediately triggered, and depending on the seriousness of the allegation, the officer would either be given a desk assignment or suspended without pay while the investigation was carried out.
“The County Attorney and Attorney General would be contacted if the allegation involved anything of a criminal nature or potential civil rights violation,” Muilenberg said. “If the internal investigation complaint was sustained, or criminal charges were filed, I would fire the officer.”
Muilenberg said that if he personally witnessed a racist action from one of his officers, he would have to go through the same channels, but the officer would be immediately suspended without pay and he would begin the termination process.
“Bottom line, I will not tolerate racism in the Jaffrey Police Department,” Muilenberg said.
The 10-plus days of protests around the country have also exposed many more instances of excessive force and police brutality as protesters, looters and police in riot gear clashed. Peaceful protesters, journalists, bystanders and EMTs all found themselves on the wrong side of batons, pepper spray and rubber bullets, some injured permanently while exercising their First Amendment rights.
2018 ConVal graduates Delaney Beaudoin and Clayton Hansen went to Boston to join the protest on May 31, arriving at Boston Common at dusk to join thousands marching together towards the state house.
“Obviously it was intense, people were angry, but it was peaceful,” Beaudoin said. “Nobody was throwing anything, nobody was being violent. It was shoulder-to-shoulder people filling a whole city street in Boston.”
It turned ugly, Beaudoin said, when the police arrived in force, driving four police vehicles down the packed street, giving protesters little choice but to flee or be hit by a moving car.
“People started booking it out of the streets,” Hansen said. “People were diving out of the way of the cop cars, we all grabbed hands and started running….By doing that, Boston PD showed they had zero regard for the people there or human life in general.”
“I keep coming back to imagining that happening at a climate march, where literally hundreds of thousands of people walk the streets and they don’t get run over with cars,” Beaudoin said. “Or the women’s march – what if BPD started driving through women? It wouldn’t happen. It’s an entirely different treatment.”
Beaudoin and Hansen took shelter and watched as bottles rained down on the police cars and protesters pounded on the hood and windshield. Eventually, they left the area safely; by the time they got back to their vehicle, the headlines were already popping up on their cell phones: “Protest turns violent when protesters start attacking cops.”
The headlines gave Beaudoin, a former Ledger-Transcript intern and current Wheaton journalism student, pause. “Being there was completely eye-opening and made me look at the police and the media in a totally different light. They drove through a crowd of people and that’s when [it] happened….The cops started the riot. Give context to why it turned violent. Cops disregarded the First Amendment and people got pissed. We were peacefully assembled, that’s our right and they just didn’t [care]. It was terrifying.”
The protests which started in Minneapolis have gained tractions, spreading not just nationally, but globally, with gatherings in major cities on six continents.
“Most people don’t even think about Minneapolis,” Green said. “They call it flyover country. Suddenly, every city in America, like every city, are having these protests, and around the world.”
And as those protests continue, now stretching into a third week, they seem to be having some effect. Chauvin’s charges were upgraded to second-degree murder; the other three officers on the scene charged with aiding and abetting, and the Minneapolis City Council declared their intent to disband the Minneapolis Police Department. Groups around the country like MPD150, 8 Can’t Wait and Defund12 are advocating for sweeping police reforms.
Two bills in front of the New Hampshire House of Representatives aim to reform the reporting and investigating process surrounding police misconduct, and a recent Supreme Court decision may have set precedent for more transparency. At Saturday’s peaceful protest in Peterborough, which drew nearly 550 people, Green circulated a letter to the Peterborough Police Department, adding signatures and eventually hand-delivering it to Chief Guinard.
“The outcome people are hoping for is that we work toward a more community-based network of counselors, mental health providers, clergy, EMTs and first responders, because they’re there to help,” Green said.