In Kathryn Diss’s “George Floyd’s death shows the power of social media as the US continues to grapple with racial tensions” Diss argues that police brutality against African Americans in the U.S. is only getting the attention it deserves due to social media, and still, even in this case, the proper rectifications are still not being made.
Diss examines the very famous 2020 case of George Floyd to demonstrate this lack of justice, and the importance of citizen journalism. If you’re not familiar with the case, in 2020, George Floyd died due to a white police officer wedging his knee into the back of his neck for 9 minutes. A video by a bystander showed this, and showed Floyd pleading for air that he “cannot breath.” BEFORE this video emerged, the statement released by the Minneapolis Police Department told a different story. They used short, undetailed statements such as he “appeared” under the influence and “appeared” to be suffering mental distress—nothing of the way in which he was killed by the police officer. Quickly after this video surfaced, the 4 police officers involved were discharged, but this was not enough to make George’s family and people across the nation outraged at this. They wanted them off the streets and charged with George’s murder. Yet another black man “has died at the hands of a white police officer, and Americans are again in mourning” (Diss). As the Minneapolis Mayor put it, “We’ve seen a very long history in this country of charging decisions being made that did not do justice to the victims” (Diss). Diss begs the question of what might have happened if this did not take place in broad daylight? Would it have been worse? Additionally, what would have happened if this video had not surfaced or taken at all? The police would have just acted like it was a justified murder, or would they have admitted to being the cause at all? It seems that that would have been the case, judging from the statement that very much blamed him as the violent person in distress. Social media and cameras give “the public a chance to play judge and jury in cases that could get swept under the carpet” (Diss).
Even further, the author points out various additional cases of white police officers brutally killing innocent black people, for things as minor as a broken tail light. In 2016, Philando Castile, a black man, was shot dead by an officer after he was pulled over for a broken taillight. The officer in his case was acquitted on all charges. Compare this to Justine Damond Rusczyck, a white Australian woman in Minnaeapolis, who was shot dead after calling the police for help regarding a suspected rape. The officer who killed her was sentenced to 12.5 years in prison and her family received a hefty civil payout. There should not be such a stark difference—Mr. Castile should have received the same justice as Ms. Damond Rusczyck. Also, keep in mind that there is video evidence of Castile’s last moments and being shot by the officer.
Ultimately, Diss demonstrates that American society has been dealing with questionable acts of bias against black Americans, and that it is only now easier to hold police accountable in the age of social media where public opinion can play a role. Diss makes an extremely clear and convincing argument, and I haven’t thought about the potential wrongdoings that have not gone rectified pre-social media. She also says that social media might not be enough, because if the court system doesn’t offer a fair trial, the power of citizen journalism wanes. Overall, it is extremely horrifying that we must rely on random bystanders or family members on social media to show the truth in some of these cases, and even then, justice may not be brought.
I think it’s really interesting to think about the role that social media played in this case. Without the video from that bystander, this event could have become something that no one knew the truth about, or even knew about at all. Journalism, whether it is carried out by a reporter or a citizen, is meant to shed light on injustices and hold people accountable, and it is crazy to think that certain events like George Floyd could have easily gone unnoticed otherwise. The only thing I find to be unfortunate about the role media plays in sociological issues like racism is that the spread of misinformation can in a way invalidate other information that actually IS accurate. We all know that there is so much misinformation circulating social media constantly, which can devalue the power of social media in a case where the truth is reflected. Maybe there are things we can do in the future to be able to more easily distinguish what’s true and what’s false, and restore the power of the citizen journalist.
I definitely agree that citizen journalism has played an important role and holds police and those in power accountable, reflecting that more coverage is usually better than just one person who has the ability to completely define the narrative of the story themselves. But I also wonder about at what cost is citizen journalism the solution. I remember reading that the citizen journalist in the George Floyd case was just a child at the time, was sent death threats on social media for not intervening and had her life changed forever. She helped to bring justice to the case but should not have had that burden to do so. If we are going to rely more on citizen journalists, how can we ensure their protection?