Okay, first things first: I believe the verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial was fair. You can argue all day about which drugs George Floyd had in his system at the time of his death, and you can point to his behavior before he was arrested, but he’d probably still be alive if not for Chauvin’s actions. We’ve all seen the video. If you believe we need good police in order to maintain our society, you need to be willing to punish the bad police. And Chauvin was bad police. That’s not to say I condone the rioting that’s been done in Floyd’s name, or the race-baiting and dishonest rhetoric that inevitably surrounds any discussion of his death. I reject all of that, and I’m repulsed by anyone who excuses it. But the Floyd case was brought before a jury of Chauvin’s peers, and justice has been served. That’s the way it’s supposed to work in America.
I’m not so sure this next part is how things are supposed to work in America, though. Andy Mannix, Star Tribune (Minneapolis):
Leading up to Derek Chauvin’s murder trial, Justice Department officials had spent months gathering evidence to indict the ex-Minneapolis police officer on federal police brutality charges, but they feared the publicity frenzy could disrupt the state’s case.
So they came up with a contingency plan: If Chauvin were found not guilty on all counts or the case ended in a mistrial, they would arrest him at the courthouse, according to sources familiar with the planning discussions…
Under the contingency arrest plan, the Minnesota U.S. Attorney’s Office would have charged Chauvin by criminal complaint — a quicker alternative for a federal charge that doesn’t require a grand jury — so they could arrest him immediately, and then asked a grand jury for an indictment, according to sources, who were not authorized to speak publicly.
Again, I believe the jury came to a fair verdict in this case. But if it had gone the other way, the feds were going to arrest Chauvin right then and there? If he’d been found not guilty in a court of law, they weren’t even going to let him go home and grab a shower and a sandwich and maybe a nap before arresting him again? That sounds like something you’d hear about from a banana republic.
What, was Chauvin a flight risk? He’s the most infamous man in America, if not the world. Where was he gonna go?
If the idea was that arresting him immediately would prevent more rioting, then that’s just mobocracy. That’s allowing criminals to decide how laws are enforced. Is that really what we want America to be?
Senator Tim Scott is getting a lot of flak today for daring to say this:
Hear me clearly: America is not a racist country.
— Tim Scott (@SenatorTimScott) April 29, 2021
Journalists and other Democrats are accusing Sen. Scott of claiming there’s no racism in America, which is not what he said. He’s not denying there’s racism, and in the same speech he described being the victim of racism. Hell, he’s the victim of racism right now, all of it coming from liberals calling him “Uncle Tim.” No, Sen. Scott said America is not a racist country. Those are two separate and distinct ideas. All you have to do is think about it for two seconds, which is clearly too much work for a lib. If you don’t get it, it’s not Sen. Scott’s fault.
The Derek Chauvin verdict just proves Senator Scott’s point. If America were really a racist country, Chauvin wouldn’t have been arrested at all. The entire country would have watched that video and seen nothing wrong with what Chauvin did.
And in a racist country, the Department of Justice wouldn’t have been planning to arrest Chauvin right there in the courthouse, because he never would’ve stood trial in the first place.
Now the Biden administration is banning menthol cigarettes because they’re primarily smoked by black people. Who do they think is going to enforce that law? Haven’t they ever heard of Eric Gardner?
Just imagine Trump banning something because a lot of black people like it. But Biden doing so isn’t racist, because Democrats know nothing of their own party’s history and have decided their team can never be racist. It’s utterly incoherent and stupid, and it’s just the beginning.
Tim Scott is right that America isn’t a racist country. But it sure does contain a lot of racists, and a lot of them are Democrats.
(Hat tip: Amanda Prestigiacomo)
