In their war against traditional societal norms, leftist progressives sometimes elevate deeply flawed persons to near iconic status while villifying their perceived oppressors. Nowhere is this illustrated more clearly than in the case of George Floyd.

Floyd was not an evil man, yet he was seriously flawed. Reading a brief biography, it appears that he truly wished to live a good, moral life; but personal weaknesses, drug addiction, and a series of unfortunate circumstances led him in and out of a life of petty crime.

On May 25, 2020, a store clerk accused Floyd of passing a counterfeit $20 bill. When police officers accosted him there was a brief struggle. After restraint, Floyd began complaining of respiratory difficulty. Shortly afterwards, he was placed on the ground, and Officer Chauvin placed a knee on the back of Floyd’s neck in a standard police restraining move. Floyd continued to complain of breathing difficulty, and medical help was summoned. Nearly ten minutes elapsed before medics arrived, and in the interim Chauvin continued to apply pressure to Floyd’s back and neck. When an ambulance arrived, George Floyd was dead.

Several other facts are worth noting. First, on the day of his death Floyd had consumed drugs, including fentanyl, in a quantity sufficient to endanger his life. Two, Floyd was a big, powerful man, had served as a night club bouncer, and the police were somewhat afraid of him. Third, observers had gathered around the arrest scene and were video recording the officers’ actions, and Officer Chauvin was well aware of this fact.

The death of George Floyd caused an explosion in black urban centers throughout the United States. Scores of people were killed, federal buildings and police facilities were attacked, and many stores and businesses suffered damage and destruction. Damage costs soared to hundreds of millions, with the most severe effects being felt in the black districts of major cities. The cry was “Black lives matter!” and “Pigs in a blanket, fry them like bacon.” Anti-police sentiments were palpable, and racial relations appeared to have been set back for years.

George Floyd was immediately elevated to the status of near sainthood. To illustrate the degree of adulation, two pieces of art were placed on display at the Catholic University of America, in Washington, D.C., depicting George Floyd as Jesus Christ lying in the arms of the Virgin Mary – a reimagining of Michaelangelo’s famous PIETA.

I cannot judge George Floyd’s merits.  He was my brother human being and like me an imperfect child of God. This unfortunate man died from a combination of illegal drugs and police actions, and he deserved our compassion;  but this artist decided to raise him beyond sainthood and picture him as the sinless Son of God.  Was that a bit too much?

Truth is, any black who dies in a confrontation with a white policeman is likely to be anointed as a saint by black activitists and the left-wing media. The victims background and criminal history is of little consequence.

As for the policemen who arrested George Floyd, Derek Chauvin was accused, convicted of murder, and sentenced to a long prison term. The officers with him were charged and convicted as accessories. Did Chauvin and the other officers deserved their punishment? The jurors in Minneapolis seemed to think so.

But consider the following:

o – The jurors were under tremendous pressure to convict. They knew that to do otherwise would result in more racial riots.

o – Most medical coroners attribute Floyd’d death to Chauvin’s pressure on Floyd’s neck, but there are other competent medical examiners who seem convinced that Floyd succumbed to a lethal drug overdose.

o – Derek Chauvin knew that his action were being videographed by observers. No man of reasonable intelligence would commit murder in plain view. Therefore, I believe that Chauvin was not guilty of murder. Perhaps a charge of unintentional homicide, or manslaughter, would have been correct, and Chauvin’s punishment should have been adjusted to fit the crime.

Chauvin and his fellow-officers paid the penalty for being caught in the vortex of America’s racial unrest. In May 2020 the left’s anti-police campaign reached its crescendo.