Skip to main content
Regional secretary with the National Education Union
Race, language and violence in US policing
An analysis of speech patterns by US police officers shows that escalation can be accurately predicted from the first words they speak to black drivers, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and JOEL HELLEWELL
ew York City Police Department officers stand in formation after arresting multiple protesters marching after curfew on Fifth Avenue on June 4, 2020, in New York, following the death of George Floyd

THE murder of George Floyd in May 2020 by police officer Derek Chauvin was witnessed by millions of people around the world.

That was only possible because of a brave decision by a teenage passerby: 17-year-old Darnella Frazier, who was taking her nine-year-old cousin to the grocery store to buy snacks, started filming the events as they unfolded.

The daily occurrence of horrific police violence against black people, not just in the US but around the world, has been demonstrated over and over, not just by testimony but by recordings like the one made by Frazier.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
UNRECOGNISED POTENTIA:L: Girl students conduct an experiment by throwing cotton balls to demonstrate the instinctive reaction of flinching at The Big Bang Fair 2025, for young scientists and engineers, at the NEC in Birmingham on June 18 2025
Science and Society / 16 July 2025
16 July 2025

What’s behind the stubborn gender gap in Stem disciplines ask ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT in their column Science and Society

The ruins of Guernica after it was bombed by the Nazis on April 26, 1937
Science and Society / 2 July 2025
2 July 2025

While politicians condemned fascist bombing of Spanish civilians in 1937, they ignored identical RAF tactics across the colonies. Today’s aerial warfare continues this pattern of applying different moral standards based on geography and race, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT

LETHAL PLANS: Keir Starmer visits a defence contractor in Bedfordshire
Science and Society / 4 June 2025
4 June 2025

The distinction between domestic and military drones is more theoretical than practical, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT

UNEASY COHABITATION: Southern Ridges, Singapore, 2015 Pic: Zairon/CC
Science and Society / 21 May 2025
21 May 2025

Nature's self-reconstruction is both intriguing and beneficial and as such merits human protection, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT

 

Similar stories
Demonstrators rally in New York's Union Square on the fifth anniversary of the death of George Floyd, May 25, 2025
United States / 26 May 2025
26 May 2025
backlash
Cinema / 8 May 2025
8 May 2025

The Star's critics MARIA DUARTE and MICHAL BONCZA review Backlash: The Murder of George Floyd, The Uninvited, The Surfer, and Motel Destino

NO INTERVENTION TOO SMALL: Taking the knee at Lewes FC Women
Culture / 13 April 2025
13 April 2025
ALEX HALL recommends a book that places empirical evidence at the heart of understanding racism
GROUP SUPREMACY: Alois Alzheimer (standing third from right)
Science and Society / 11 February 2025
11 February 2025
Fraud in Alzheimer’s research raises difficult questions about the current state of science, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT