Chauvin defense grounded in centuries of dehumanizing Black bodies

Throughout American history, Black people have been dehumanized because of white supremacist ideology, says UC Berkeley public health professor Denise Herd. This has led to racial health disparities and punitive police practices that must be considered when contextualizing the Derek Chauvin trial. (Photo via McFarlain Library, University of Tulsa) For three weeks, defense attorneys in the Derek Chauvin trial have argued that George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, died due to his drug intake and a heart condition and not because Chauvin, a white Minneapolis police officer, knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes on May 25, 2020. But those arguments are rooted in centuries of looking at the health and well-being of Black people as different - and less valuable - than that of white people, said UC Berkeley public health professor Denise Herd. And this underscores the way law enforcement views Black bodies and leads to punitive police practices that justify the killing of Black people. "In American consciousness, law enforcement is one big locus that has historical ties to racist domestic terrorist groups that do not value the lives, health or well-being of Black people," said Herd, who is also associate director of Berkeley's Othering and Belonging Institute.  "And that mentality is what allows somebody to have their knee on another human being's neck for more than nine minutes - actively killing them in front of their peers and the public.