George Floyd: Violent protests across American cities leave citizens in fear, says Minnesota-based journalist Max Nesterak on the Sunday Project
America is gripped with fear as violent protests rage on with reports of rubber bullets being fired directly at civilians, says a US journalist.
As shocking footage of rioters burning down police stations, setting fire to cop cars and a heavy-handed response from the National Guard flood social media – with reports of rubber bullets being shot at residents on their porches – a US based journalist has described the terror.
The world has watched in horror as violent and chaotic protests have exploded on the streets of more than 30 cities across the country, sparked by the killing of African-American man George Floyd by caucasian police officer Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis on May 25.
The 46-year-old father-of-two, who was on the ground in handcuffs, died after Chauvin knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes despite anguished protests from Mr Floyd who said he was unable to breathe.
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The horrifying incident was captured on film and has caused outrage around the world while Black Lives Matter protesters and supporters have clashed with authorities in angry and distressing scenes where rioters have been sprayed with tear gas and people have been physically mowed down by police cars. Looting and violence has been rife.
Minnesota-based journalist Max Nesterak, who lives just a block away from protests in Whitteir, Minneapolis, told The Sunday Project: “You know, it’s odd being inside and hearing bangs, hearing helicopters overhead all night long.
“What the neighbours on my block have done have been to set barricades of just old furniture and caution tape, construction tape across the street just to stop people from driving down it.
“This is something that has been happening all across the city, neighbours getting organised to try to protect themselves, protect their homes.
“Because there’s little faith and trust in the National Guard, even though there is a historic number of soldiers in the city right now, trying to quell the protests.”
The Sunday Project host Lisa Wilkinson, who described the situation as “heartbreaking” asked whether it felt like America was at a tipping point at the moment that could actually bring about real change.
“It’s so difficult to say and it’s so hard to know what the future is going to be, and I think a lot of people hope so, but this is a scene that has played out in Minneapolis and cities across America before with the killing of unarmed black men at the hands of police,” Nesterak said.
“As far as being a tipping point, every day this week it felt like things simply could not get worse than the day before, and yet they have.”
ARE ORDINARY AMERICANS SCARED?
When asked whether, as an American he was scared, Nesterak answered, “Earlier today my partner and I – we packed a bag and we brought it up to his parents’ place which is outside the city and in the suburbs.
“He told me to bring the things that are most important to me if our house were to be burned down, and honestly, I wasn’t even in the head space to understand what I should bring.
“We’re safe now, but at the same time there are videos from tonight of people standing on their porch watching the National Guard troops walk in, the troops telling people to get inside their homes, and then proceed to shoot people with rubber bullets standing on their porch.
“So, it is a scary time for us right now.”
During an interview with CBS radio host Michael Williams from Washington, Wilkinson said, “Michael, this appears not to be purely about George Floyd’s death anymore. This looks to be a complete explosion of anger towards everything going wrong with America right now.”
“Yeah, I think that’s a really astute observation there,” Williams replied.
“It started off and was triggered by an act that everyone could see was an unjust, was a violent act, was a murderous act, just right in front of your face, but in the same way that – and I compare this whole thing somewhat to the situation with COVID-19 in the way that it exploits the pre-existing conditions within a body to do damage – and I think within our society, we have a lot of pre-existing conditions that this situation is preying upon.”
We spoke to CBS radio host Michael Williams from Washington DC about his hopes for meaningful, systematic change as a result of the unrest currently escalating in the US. #TheProjectTV pic.twitter.com/QHgXHCFhav
— The Project (@theprojecttv) May 31, 2020
WILL THE PROTESTS LEAD TO SOCIETAL CHANGE?
Host Susie Youssef said that former president Barack Obama had said the US could never go back to normal after this widespread violence but questioned whether the horrifying protests would lead to lasting change in the country.
“Well, I always have hope that things can get better,” Williams said. “Will it get better because of what’s happening now, what’s happening tonight, what has happened for the last four or five nights?
“In my lifetime, I learned that a single woman refusing to stand up on a bus created change. Six boys sitting down at a lunch counter and insisting that they be served like anybody else – that created change.
“But I can’t point to an instance where violence and rioting and a social tantrum like this actually created change.
“Of course, it will be interesting and necessary to see how we take this and turn it into the type of institutional, societal change that will really take us forward to where we think that we want to be, but we certainly are not tonight.”
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