Much has been written this past week about the guilty verdict for all three counts in the trial of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd. As well it should be; this was a monumental event in Minnesota not simply because the crime happened here, but because Mohamad Noor, a Somali-American cop was convicted on manslaughter in the case of Justine Diamond, the Australian yoga teacher, without the benefit of body-cam footage, yet Jeronimo Yanez was found not guilty of second-degree manslaughter, two counts of dangerous discharge of a firearm in the shooting of Philando Castile, the aftermath of which was recorded by Philando's girlfriend on her phone because she realized she had to document what happened. Not that it helped.
Why was one convicted and not the other? I am certain there will be endless analysis of the reasons, but I have one of my own.
Taking the knee has long been thought of as an honorable thing to do. Pictures of all sorts of kneeling events litter the art and photography landscape. Usually, when one takes a knee, it is a reverential kinda thing.
An angel takes the knee in traditional depictions of the Annunciation.
One takes the knee when one is proposing marriage.
In addition to the photo, I think the jury also got that message while watching him during the trial, especially when he took his mask off. I sure did. It will be interesting if he speaks at his sentencing hearing.
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