Amidst the global protests surrounding the tragic death of George Floyd to police brutality has brought out the pro-trump anti-protesters in Franklin Township, New Jersey by re-enacting George Floyd’s death.
What we know:
- The anti-protesters taunted the Black Lives Matter protesters in Franklin Township, New Jersey by mocking the tragic death of George Floyd and yelling out racial slurs to the peaceful protesters.
- Along with the taunting, the anti-protesters yelled out “all lives matter” and “white lives matter” as they had Trump flags on their pick up trucks.
- In the video, the man lying on the ground was playing the role of George Floyd and the man kneeling on his neck played Derek Chauvin the police officer who got charged with second-degree murder.
- It was later reported that the man kneeling down was an NJ corrections officer who has been recently suspended for being a part of the “hateful and disappointing” incident and has caused the man lying on the ground to get fired by FEDEX.
- The 56th Governor of the State of New Jersey mentioned that the actions of these men won’t be a distraction from the real problem, systemic racism.
Mocking George Floyd’s murder in effort to belittle the calls for justice from our Black and Brown communities is repugnant. I condemn this behavior in the strongest terms possible.
We won’t let the actions of a few distract from our progress toward dismantling systemic racism. https://t.co/Rb1RUsST5I
— Governor Phil Murphy (@GovMurphy) June 10, 2020
- The community was appalled by the behavior and took on twitter to raise awareness.
Video shows prison guard mocking George Floyd death
FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) — A corrections officer who participated in a counterprotest to a Black Lives Matter demonstration in New Jersey in which people reenacted the death of George Floyd.-We have a lot of work to do pic.twitter.com/zawl8gtfpv
— Dr. Jeff Rabinowitz (VotedBlueIn2022) 🇺🇦 (@rxjef77) June 10, 2020
If he’s really a prison guard, he should be fired from that job. And check his record there to see how many African Americans he’s abused
— Jim Gracie (@Conmanswat) June 10, 2020
- NBC 10 had a separate interview with a peaceful protester and she said the following, “The display yesterday showed me that racism is real, racism is alive, it’s right next door to you,”.
- Protest organizer Daryan Fennal spoke to the New York Times and mentioned how she broke out in tears and said the following: “I was thinking about the kids who were marching behind me,”.
- Police Chief Brian Zimmer and Mayor Bruno said they were saddened by the actions. It is unclear if the men on the video face any legal issues.
Protests have been taking all over the world against police brutality and some have taken place for “white lives matter”. This is an ongoing investigation but will update with any new information.
