Why would four Minneapolis police officers ignore a man's pleas for help?

Basic human nature is to help somebody who is in distress.  We don't do this because we are civilized.  We do this because we are human.  Prehistoric humans did this:  Skeletal remains reveal individuals whose death occurred many years after severe bone fractures had healed.  This could not have happened if cries for help had been ignored.

And yet, as of this writing, the evidence shows that a man named George Floyd was brutalized by four Minneapolis police officers after he was placed in handcuffs.  For five minutes Mr Floyd repeatedly cried out for help as the four held him in a suffocating position.  It wasn't until almost four minutes later that the officers removed their combined weight on his body; by then, Mr Floyd had perished.

These officers could not find it in themselves to behave as humanely as did prehistoric humans of 100,000 years or more ago.  Why not?

Mr Floyd was a man of color, a minority.  That he was a victim of deeply ingrained racism is an inescapable conclusion.

But there should be another conclusion, which is this:  Racism in America is increasing because it is more acceptable to be racist.

People like me are on the outside looking in.  Not being a minority means that we cannot experience racism's consequences: discrimination, anxiety and lack of opportunity.  Not having experience in policing means that we cannot understand a police officer's job.

But we can still recognize that a police department is a naturally hierarchical organization, and the people at the lower levels are subject to influence and direction from those at the upper levels.  The single person in authority at the very top of the hill of hierarchy has the opportunity to be hugely influential in the attitudes that police officers take with them as they do their jobs.

Just like anything subject to gravity, shit rolls downhill.

The election of 2016 made Donald Trump president.  Trump owes his election - at least in large part -- to the visibility he gained from claiming that Barack Obama, the nation's first black president, was not an American citizen and therefore not a legitimate president.  That is a plainly racist position intended to pander to the emotions of systemic racism.  Trump's words and actions since the election have maintained and expanded that position.  You don't need me to go into three years' worth of details on this.

There is simply no other way to say it:  That's a whole lot of shit rolling down from the top.

It is not likely that Mr Floyd's death -- and those of others -- will be fully avenged in the courtroom.  Prosecutions of police misconduct are rarely successful.  Even if this time is different, racism is systemic.  It cannot be removed in court.

And, admittedly, it cannot be removed by one future election.  Several will be needed.  Peaceful demonstrations of protest against racism will and should continue.  But this year's election can make the protests more effective by removing Trump and changing the messaging from the top into something that says "Racism is unacceptable!"  That will be better than what rolls downhill now.

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