(EFE).- Martin Luther King III, the oldest son of late civil rights icon Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., said an acquittal in the trial of the white ex-police officer accused of killing George Floyd, an unarmed African-American man, would show the United States’ justice system to be “terribly broken and flawed.”
The human rights advocate and life member of the board of directors of The King Center – an Atlanta-based institution dedicated to advancing his father’s legacy – said in an interview with Efe via videoconference that African-Americans and other people of color historically have rarely obtained justice through the courts.
Even so, he said he is confident now-fired Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, 44, who faces charges of unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, will be convicted “at the highest level.”
Opening arguments in the trial are set to begin on the morning of March 29.
“There’s a concern that, even with all of this information, that an officer may not be convicted. I really don’t think that’s going to happen this time,” the 63-year-old King III said. “If he’s not convicted, our system is terribly broken and flawed.”
He was referring to security and bystander video showing that Chauvin knelt on the 46-year-old Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes on a street corner in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25, 2020, while three fellow officers looked on and the suspect was handcuffed on the ground and repeatedly said he was unable to breathe.
Floyd, who had been arrested for allegedly passing a counterfeit $20 bill, was pronounced dead later that day.
Violent protests comparable to the riots that followed the 1968 assassination of King Jr. erupted in cities across the US last summer in the wake of Floyd’s death.
King III, whose father urged non-violent resistance to segregationist laws in the US, also advocates the “peaceful resolution” of problems but would not be surprised to see violence if Chauvin is acquitted.
“When you push people and you constantly mistreat them over and over again, at some point they feel they have no choice. And so they may engage in something that’s destructive, as opposed to something that might be constructive,” he said.
According to the rights activist, his father would be torn about the present-day state of America.
Although he “would be greatly disappointed in where we are today in terms of all the divisions that exist in our society between blacks and whites,” he would have been very proud of the nationwide protests that followed Floyd’s death.
“There had never been civil rights demonstrations in every state,” King III said.
Looking forward, he said further legal progress is needed to create a better society.
Obtaining congressional approval for a police reform bill known as the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which has been passed by the House of Representatives and is to be considered by the Senate, would be a positive step and “give people some belief that, okay, we’re at least attempting to make changes,” King III said.
© 2021 EFE News Services (U.S.) Inc.
—-
This content is published through a licensing agreement with Acquire Media using its NewsEdge technology.
“that African-Americans and other people of color historically have rarely obtained justice through the courts”. Martin Luther King III, you are right, African Americans have rarely obtained justice, through the courts, because African Americans who commit crimes against other blacks and who murder other blacks, are rarely put in jail. How is that for a dose of reality, Martin Luther King III?
His grand father would be ASHAMED of what his kin have become.
I.A.W. U.S. Census & FBI (Table 43a) Black males make up about 6% of the U.S. population but commit 53% of all the murders and 55% of all robberies in the U.S… Every year in the U.S. there are ~5,000 African-Americans men, women and children killed and 96% of them were killed by fellow African-Americans.
Where is the outrage from Martin Luther King III, “Black Lives Matter” and prominent members of the African-American community? Where are the words of condemnation and sorrow from “Black Lives Matter”, Obama, Al Sharpton, or Jesse Jackson over the fact that members of their own race are summarily executing each other?
How many bodies do you have to step over to get to the one that you think is important only because a White police officer was involved?
“When you push people and you constantly mistreat them over and over again, at some point they feel they have no choice. And so they may engage in something that’s destructive, as opposed to something that might be constructive,” he said. This statement goes both ways sir, You have already made-up you mind, regardless of the finding of the courts and Jury, he is guilty. So long as people keep using the the RACE CARD and saying it’s not my fault we will never stop this HATE for each other. People can do anything they want to do if they just do it and don’t wait till someone does it for them, within the Laws.
We all have the Brain Power, the will to Learn, and we all want to be better in our Life here on this Plant, We all need to Obey the Peoples LAWs and the Bible Laws. People can be used by others and if you never stop, it will always keep you down. Sorry but you are Wrong.
Let the Courts do there job and don’t listen to the Media, or the Politian’s.
THIS was never about justice. BUT LYNCH MOB JUSTICE..
I hope he is found not guilty now.