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Everything about Derek Chauvin’s case — from his long list of previous conduct complaints to the 44-year-old police officer’s brutal calm as he pressed his knee to George Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes until he died— spoke to the decades of failure to address the systemic problems plaguing his employer, the Minneapolis Police Department.

Floyd’s death under the knee of the white MPD officer on May 25 has reignited furor over the persistence of police brutality against people of color in the United States. As Americans gathered to protest in more than 70 cities, they raged against the same tepid solutions proposed by local and national leaders that have fallen far short in the past: opening investigations, firing police officers, and simply promising more reforms.

Below are (3) snippets of articles wriiten by Brothers in the Western Region:

Article #1
Why the outpouring and protests across the country and what needs to be done?

There have been countless protests including Colin Kapernick's peaceful non-violent attempt to bring attention to the police brutality resulting in nothing but being scorned, slandered, and mischaracterized. Instead of addressing the issue, he was blackballed AND no one listened! There have been march after march and protest after protest... yet no one listened and nothing has changed. Now we have societal unrest in every city.

When is enough - enough? It's not the 60's but we are really not far from it! The difference now is that nobody is turning the other cheek! There is a lot of hurt, frustration, anger and combined with the financial ruin, unemployment, and anguish from the fallout from COVID-19, this latest killing was simply a match to lite the fuse for people to explode like a bomb! Read more...

Article #2
On August 9, 2014, an unarmed young black man, who recently graduated from Normandy High School, was executed. Big Mike. However, the world knows him as Michael Brown. Days and weeks after the death of Michael Brown — at the hands of Officer Darren Wilson — the media portrayed Brown as a menace. A danger. A thug.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee expressed that Big Mike “could have avoided that if he’d have behaved like something other than a thug.” He wasn’t the only one who shared this sentiment. Many political officials and news correspondents proclaimed that Big Mike fell to his demise because of his thugary; that Trayvon Martin was hunted down at the age of 17 by a wanna-be cop because of his thug-like attire (i.e. hoodie); that Jordan Davis was slain at the age of 17 because of his loud “thug music”; that people who are tired of their voices being neglected, and their bodies treated as shooting range targets are thugs because they choose to use the only language the country understands.

Thug became synonymous with Black. Black synonymous with threat. So thug became synonymous with me. Read more...

Article #3

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve struggled with how America has decided to show up in response to racial injustice and police brutality. I’ve tried to process and reflect internally, but in doing so, I have noticed myself bottling up more than I can handle. But it is my hope that my recent realizations as a 23 year-old Black professional will shine some light for many of us...

After watching the video which nationally showcased the death of Ermias Asghedom as prime-time news, I knew I could no longer stomach watching death senselessly occur - especially the deaths of my fellow brothers, sisters, and heroes.

I’ll speak for myself when I say that as a Black man, I possess a sort of generational trauma that “takes me back” every time I HEAR of such videos. I don’t need to watch footage of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Manuel Ellis, Trayvon Martin, Oscar Grant... and the many others to be overwhelmed with a sense of mourning. Read more...