Why the Permanent Outrage Mentality Is So Toxic
When all you’ve got is a hammer, everything looks like “systemic racism.â€
By Josh Hammer
April 22, 2021
The conviction of disgraced former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin on both manslaughter and murder charges ought to be, at least in theory, a seminal moment for a country hoping to foster greater civic unity and recoil from the tumultuous brink of a half-century nadir in racially charged acrimony. Sadly, early indications point toward something closely approximating the precise opposite.
Successful criminal prosecutions of police officers for use of lethal force in the line of duty are rare in America, reflecting both the statistical paucity of truly egregious police misconduct and a still-widely held understanding that policing is extraordinarily difficult work, entailing split-second decision-making to which deference must be afforded and for which Monday morning quarterbacking is improper. But the viral video of Chauvin kneeling on the neck of George Floyd for nine minutes did not evince such “split-second decision-making.â€
No matter what Floyd’s autopsy revealed with respect to fentanyl and methamphetamine, Chauvin’s use of excessive force was clearly criminally negligent and reckless. The prosecution had a strong case, at least with respect to the lesser manslaughter charge.
Whether Chauvin nonetheless received a truly fair trial is dubious, at best. The armchair commentary and attempts to influence the verdict from myriad elected officials, such as Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and even Joe Biden himself, were egregiously inappropriate. Equally egregious was the fact that the jury, in such a high-profile case, was not sequestered for the entire trial duration. The appeals process will take into account these procedural follies and lamentable interferences in the solemnity of the judicial process, but for now, the fact remains that Black Lives Matter, the progressive Left, and all those who canonized Floyd as a “martyr†for America’s purported “systemic racism†sin got the result they seemingly wanted.
Right?
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