Hours after an ex-police officer was convicted with murder charges in the George Floyd case, the US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has come under fire for the statements she made "in celebration of the verdict".
Nancy Pelosi thanks George Floyd for being murdered pic.twitter.com/na0Fjoj891
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) April 20, 2021
In her comments following a jury's decision to convict Derek Chauvin of the Minneapolis Police Department in killing African American George Floyd last May, Pelosi "thanked Floyd for sacrificing his life for justice."
Standing along with a number of US legislators at the Congressional Black Caucus presser, Pelosi said: "Thank you, George Floyd, for sacrificing your life for justice. For being there to call out to your mom," Pelosi went on. "How heartbreaking was that? [To] call out for your mom, 'I can't breathe [...] But because of you and because of thousands, millions of people around the world who came out for justice, your name will always be synonymous with justice."
After hearing Nancy Pelosi's comments on George Floyd, my only political opinion is that we should stop electing really old people to office and enforce term limits.
— Isaac (@WorldofIsaac) April 20, 2021
“So again, thank you George Floyd for sacrificing your life for justice”
— Alonzo (@j_seegs) April 21, 2021
-Nancy Pelosi pic.twitter.com/IvuGzHYeia
Consequently, online people angrily attacked Pelosi saying that her speech "echoes the typical white discourse assuming that black people should die to gain their basic rights."
Pelosi is out of pocket but she's also not the only white person who will do this today so this is just a reminder that murder victims don't "sacrifice" themselves. George Floyd did not choose what happened to him. He wanted to be alive. He begged for it. He was not a martyr.
— Claire Willett (@clairewillett) April 20, 2021
Last May, nationwide protests associated with the Black Lives Matter movement were triggered following the death of 46-years-old George Floyd when then-police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for several minutes before Floyd lost his life.
As protests grew across the west, black people protested a long history of police violence, urging an immediate systemic change in the US and other countries.
Last Tuesday, a jury in the Chauvin trial found the ex-officer guilty on three charges; second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and manslaughter.
