'Make Whites Great Again' and 'All Lives Matter' trended on Twitter in the furor following George Floyd's death
by rmahbubani@businessinsider.com (Rhea Mahbubani)Carlos Gonzalez/Star Tribune via Getty Images
- George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, died after he was handcuffed and pinned under the knee of a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, on Monday.
- Video of the incident sparked outrage on Tuesday, prompting thousands to protest in Minneapolis.
- On Wednesday, two opposing phrases trended on Twitter in reaction to the incident: "Make Whites Great Again" and "All Lives Matter."
- Four police officers have been removed from the force following Floyd's death, but Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey is urging Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman to pursue criminal charges against Chauvin.
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A video of a handcuffed black man struggling to breathe while pinned under the knee of a white Minneapolis police officer and eventually dying left the United States reeling on Tuesday.
The next morning, two very different phrases were trending on Twitter: "Make Whites Great Again" and "All Lives Matter."
The former, a play on President Donald Trump's campaign slogan "Make America Great Again," had amassed more than 55,000 tweets by Wednesday afternoon.
But there appeared to be some confusion behind it.
A photograph making the rounds online shows a man wearing a red "Make Whites Great Again" cap. Misinformation circulated on social media initially identifying him as Derek Chauvin, the white former police officer seen kneeling on George Floyd's neck for eight minutes as he gasped: "Please, I can't breathe."
However, the image actually depicts a man named Jonathan Riches, the Hill reported.
Twitter users were outraged and called on the social media platform to use the fact check tag that was attached on Tuesday to Trump's tweets about mail-in voting.
Meanwhile, some claimed that it doesn't matter that Chauvin was misidentified as wearing the hat. They accused the policeman of racism anyway, saying the incident with Floyd is all the evidence they need.
Others were left agape by the trend.
"All Lives Matter" sparked fury of its own, with people complaining that the phrase is meant to direct attention away from the issues at play in Floyd's death. It had been included in over 78,000 tweets as of Wednesday morning, according to The Hill.
Meanwhile, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has called on Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman to pursue criminal charges against Chauvin, the arresting officer, KMSP-TV reported. He and three other officers were removed from the police force over the incident
"I've wrestled, more than anything else over the last 36 hours, with one fundamental question: Why is the man who killed George Floyd not in jail?" Frey said on Wednesday. "If you had done it or I had done it, we would be behind bars right now. I cannot come up with a good answer to that question."
Floyd's death prompted protests in Minneapolis on Tuesday night. Thousands of peaceful masked demonstrators carried signs that said, "I can't breathe" and "Stop killing black people," and chanted "It could've been me." A crowd of unruly protestors also gathered outside a police station and threw bottles and rocks at officers in riot gear, who responded by firing tear gas, rubber pellets, and flash grenades into the crowd.
"It is on us as leaders to see this for what it is and call it what it is. George Floyd deserves justice," Frey said.
Kerem Yucel/AFP via Getty Images
Philonise Floyd, the brother of George Floyd, echoed the sentiment. He told CNN that the police treated his brother "worse than they treat animals."
"Knowing my brother is to love my brother," he said. "They could have Tased him; they could have maced him. Instead, they put their knee in his neck and just sat on him and then carried on."
Ben Crump, a civil rights attorney involved in the cases of Ahmaud Arbery and Trayvon Martin, is representing Floyd's family and pushing for murder charges to be filed against the police officers involved.
"The plan is to make sure these officers are charged with the murder of George Floyd," Crump told The New York Times. "When you really think about it, it was nine minutes that he begged for his life while this officer had his knee in his throat, had his knee in his neck."
- Read more:
- 'I can't breathe': 4 Minneapolis police officers were fired following their involvement in a black man's death after a cop knelt on his neck for 8 minutes
- Eric Garner's mother says watching George Floyd plead 'I can't breathe' before dying in police custody was like having 'déjà vu all over again'
- Most Minnesota law enforcement agencies ban the neck-pinning maneuver used against George Floyd — but it's still allowed in Minneapolis
- George Floyd's relatives say he was 'everyone's favorite everything' as they call for police officers fired over his death to face murder charges
- Photos show thousands of protesters demanding justice in Minneapolis after police killed George Floyd
- New video appears to show police forcing George Floyd out of his car moments before an officer knelt on his neck for 8 minutes
- LeBron James has weighed in on Instagram about the death of George Floyd, saying 'this is why' Colin Kaepernick took a knee
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