Myth of the Supernegro Comes to Chauvin's Defense - only thing tiny white cop could do was kill him

[Demovictory9]

“This was not an easy struggle,” said Eric Nelson, the attorney for the cop who killed George Floyd. In his opening statement Monday in the trial of Derek Chauvin, Nelson was at pains to portray the events of May 25, 2020, as a struggle between a powerful brute and a law enforcement official trying to do his job. He wanted the jurors to visualize Floyd, pinned to the ground and struggling for air, as bigger, taller, stronger than Chauvin, the man whose knee was on Floyd’s neck. He wanted them to understand that Floyd’s size alone meant he was a threat.

“You will see that three Minneapolis police officers could not overcome the strength of Mr. Floyd,” Nelson told the jury. Then he provided the tale of the tape, like some boxing promoter trying to hype the underdog: “Mr. Chauvin stands 5-foot-9, 140 pounds. Mr. Floyd is 6-3, weighs 223 pounds.”

And with that, the myth of the supernegro had arrived in court. The argument the defense was making was essentially that this Black man was so large, so powerful, and so dangerous that the only thing the tiny white cop could do to stop him was to kill him.

https://www.motherjones.com/crime-justice/2021/04/the-myth-of-the-supernegro-comes-to-derek-chauvins-defense/

[demtenjeep]

1. that defense guy is horrid

and I hate his "will you agree" shit. It is like he is trying on purpose to mislead in his little aw shucks manor

[pazzyanne]

13. Exactly! nt

[Progressive Jones]

22. I'm not siding with him, but it's his job to defend his client. The defense is weak.

Chauvin's lawyer has his work cut out. I say he's going to lose.

No doubt the lawyer sees "book deal", which could be part of why he took the case.
It won't matter to him which way the case goes. The book will still sell.

[AZLD4Candidate]

2. This defense is just as stupid as the Twinkie defense and the Afluenza defense

and with that said, it's still a coin flip as if he will walk. Remember Rodney King. . .video evidence of Mr. King's beating and they got off.

[dsc]

18. those defenses largely worked

The twinkie defense got a man who assassinated the mayor of and one Councilman of SF a manslaughter conviction and 3 years in jail, the affluenza defense got a man who killed 4 people, and injured 9 others (one was paralyzed for life) probation.

[Irish_Dem]

3. It is not an easy struggle when you are murdering someone in cold blood.

[3Hotdogs]

4. I think he will be acquitted of most serious charge

but he will do time

[sop]

5. "Three Minneapolis police officers could not overcome the strength of Mr. Floyd," yet they arrested

"supernegro" without incident, killed him and none of the officers suffered any injuries, not even a bruise. Well, maybe Chauvin's knee was sore after kneeling on Floyd's neck for almost ten minutes.

[paleotn]

6. Guess Nelson doesn't know about Sam Colt.

[SKKY]

7. Derek Chauvin hasn't been 140 pounds since 7th grade...

...that's just garbage.

[ShazzieB]

15. Seriously.

A 5'9" guy who only weighed 140 would be skinny as a toothpick. There's no freaking way he was that thin at the time of the killing, and If he does weigh that now (which I don't believe, but IF) he must have been on one hell if a crash diet.

And in any case, Mr Alleged Toothpick Man was armed, as were all the other cops that were there (and Floyd was NOT).

What an absolute load of crap.

[Grins]

20. You both beat me to it. No way is Chauvin 5'9" and 140 lbs.

This was the same b.s. with the death of Michael Brown,
shot by police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, MO.

Brown was a “scary black man” so Wilson was only defending himself.

Brown was big, but so was Wilson at 6’4” and 210 lbs. Basically, he was John Riggins in his prime. And he worked out regularly and was trained.

Chauvin’s attorney is trying the same shit.

[Auggie]

8. Opinions of the defense council aren't evidence

Guarantee at least one juror will mention this during deliberations

[Coventina]

9. Wait, he referred to Mr. Floyd in the present tense?

[twodogsbarking]

10. It was a Freudian slip. George was saying I can't breathe

but what he meant to say was please murder me. Defense rests.

[keithbvadu2]

11. Many police forces changed from a .32 caliber to a .38 caliber pistol because the smaller gun was su

Many police forces changed from a .32 caliber to a .38 caliber pistol because the smaller gun was supposedly unable to kill black men.
(article references back around 1914)

https://www.reddit.com/r/wikipedia/comments/bz532/many_police_forces_changed_from_a_32_caliber_to_a/

[Progressive Jones]

23. ANY gun can kill anybody. It all depends where the round hits. nt

[keithbvadu2]

25. Yeah. But we're a little over a hundred years too late to convince them of that.

Yeah.

But we're a little over a hundred years too late to convince them of that.

[iluvtennis]

12. I hear you Demovictory 9 - I am so tired of Nelson's "David and Goliath" metaphor.

Shady defense attorney that is throwing everything at the wall to see if can get something to stick

[Gaugamela]

14. He was prone with his hands handcuffed behind his back and eventually unresponsive. He had been

pleading for his life from the moment the cops stopped him. Nobody’s going to buy it, unless they’re looking for a phony excuse to acquit.

[tclambert]

16. Good rebuttal statement. Hope the prosecution uses it.

Really, the guy who was handcuffed face down and had a knee on his neck for NINE MINUTES was the threat? And the guy with his knee on someone else's neck for NINE MINUTES was the one who was threatened?

I hope the prosecutor says something like, "Hey, Juror number four, you're taller than me. According to the defense attorney, I should feel threatened by your size, and feel justified to kneel on your neck for NINE MINUTES!"

[crimycarny]

17. Yeah, I could tell that by the casual way Chauvin kept his hands in his pockets

And smirked at the crowd BEGGING him to ease up. Oh, and the cops around him—with guns still holstered—seemed terrified as well.

Who cares how many it took to initially take George Floyd down. Once he was prone on the ground, cuffed, there was ZERO reason to lean on his neck.

[Grins]

21. I thought he did that, too.

Had his hands in his pockets. Other pics showed he didn’t do that. It “appeared” his hands were in his pockets because his hands were gloved, hiding his fingers. An illusion until other pics came out.

[crimycarny]

27. Either way it's an oddly casual stance

Whether in his pockets or outside on the packet area, it’s still a jarringly casual pose while slowly murdering a man. Someone wrote an article that by doing so he was further assuring all of his weight was bearing down on George Floyd’s neck. Never thought of it that way but it makes sense. If he had his hands on the ground or on police car, he could have used that leverage to ease up on the pressure. But, nope, he wanted to bear down as hard as he could. Cold blooded murder.

[KPN]

19. This trial is a complete joke. Based on the video alone, this "pig" should be sentenced to jail for

life if not more. .... I really do appreciate and believe strongly in the notion of due process, but the verdict on this one is well past due.

[Progressive Jones]

24. I hear ya, but due process isn't just a notion. It's law. If I were a juror here, my mind

would already be made up, pending any further evidence. If that evidence existed, that court room would be swimming in it by now.
Chauvin and his lawyer have nothing.

[live love laugh]

26. The 14 y/o boy Chauvin kneed until he passed out

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.the-sun.com/news/1817299/george-floyd-cop-derek-chauvin-choked-14-kid/amp/


“ Derek Chauvin, the former officer who was seen on video in May kneeling on Floyd's neck for close to nine minutes before he died, was caught on tape likewise kneeling onto a 14-year-old's back in 2017.”

“... the video comes as prosecutors sought to introduce evidence from seven previous incidents in which Chauvin had used excessive force to restrain suspects.”

“... Chauvin and his three co-defendants: Tou Thao, Thomas Lane, and J Alexander Kueng. Prosecutors also cited one incident involved Kueng and nine with Thao.”