The coronavirus pandemic will forever ben remembered as the historical event that shaped American medical actions in 2020. However, despite the magnitude of the event, something else has shocked society even more in 2020. The murder of George Floyd, which was caught on camera by a passerby, has caused social destruction that will forever be remembered. On 25th May 2020, the Minneapolis police were called on a suspected fraud check by a store owner. The store owner offered the description of the suspect to the police who tracked down the suspect. From the evidence provided to the public, the details of the initial conversation and interaction with the police officers are unknown. However, after several minutes and exchange, the police worked together to hold Floyd down. Unfortunately, one officer knelt on his neck for over 8 minutes as he complained about not breathing and eventually passed out. The lack of oxygen to the brain led to unconsciousness and eventually, the passing on of Mr. Floyd. In the video caught by a bystander, the police officer is told several times to stop kneeling on the victim but has a smack on his face the entire time as though posing for a photo. The event thus triggered thousands of people across the country to protest against police brutality. In the past three weeks, the police have arrested and assaulted more people in the protests. In the same way, some ill-mannered protesters have gotten into major stores and stole merchandise. The main event of killing Floyd and the subsequent events illustrate the stereotyping and prejudicial practices of the police in America based on the social identity theory.
Social prejudice and stereotyping are linked to the identity groups that are developed in the community. Social identity theory refers to “that part of an individual’s self-concept which derives from knowledge of membership in a social group (or groups) together with the value or emotional significance attached to that membership” (Scheepers, & Ellemers, 2019, p. 130). The psychologist in charge of developing the theory explains that several aspects of self-esteem and pride are developed depending on the social group that one belongs in. The groups created in society are essential as they provide a sense of belonging. However, they lead to the development of antagonism against us and vice versa. In dividing society into identity groups, people are able to create an understanding of the groups in a stereotypical manner. In that, in the creation of identity groups, people can compare and contrast between groups and often define a group using prejudicial traits. For instance, in social classification, the rich versus poor identity can lead the latter to define all members of the former group as snobs and socially unavailable. However, the group identities do not refer to the characteristics of all the members of a given group. The theory happens in three stages, namely the categorization, identification, and comparison. In that, once a group is categorized, an identity is attached to them, and comparison to the rest of the society emerges. The theory of social identities applies to the current event of solving a murder that happened towards the end of May 2020.
The killing of Floyd is based on the prejudice and stereotyping of black men created through social identity grouping. The police officer in question is white, and Floyd is black. Thus, the social categorization at the beginning of the case is racial, social identity. In the American culture, black men have been viewed as a threat based on their height and physical figure as are averagely bigger that a Caucasian man. Based on the assumption of guilt, the police officers around the country have developed a sense of protecting the rest of society by stopping the big scary men. In the example above, social identification and comparison have automatically defined African American men as a threat. Therefore, in the encounter between Floyd and the police, the social identity and classification automatically created prejudice. The police, in the instance, viewed Floyd solely on the stereotypes of being dangerous and extreme measures of detaining him to be applicable. However, as the case started to materialize in the video that is trending, aspect of pride based on the social group was developed. The white policeman, Chauvin, seems to be aware of his power as a member of the ‘superior’ social group. In the frame of the video captured in the incident, Chauvin is pocketing and has a continuous smack on his face as Floyd screams for help. The officer and victims are part of different social identity groups in which the former is protected by his group and police units as the latter is a member of a less protected community. The categorization of race in the nation has led to established stereotypes that led to the killing of Floyd. The increased protests not only in the US but other communities in the world are calling for the end of the stereotypes attached to the racial, social groups in the country.
The killing of Floyd on 25th May is a case of prejudice and stereotypes created by social identity groups in the US. Society has been divided into an aspect of them versus us; thus, the African American society has been automatically classified as a threat to the rest of society. The stereotype thus leads to the use of force and weapons in the arrests of African Americans. On the other hand, protection based on the color of the skin has been accorded to white men, especially police; thus, careless actions by the group are expressed in the interaction with the rest of the society. In watching the video, I was perplexed by the event at total disregard of one’s pain. The trending video was sad and somewhat a reflection of what race classification has created in humans. In learning the theory above, I will be careful and learn not to classify people based on different categories as the identity of individuals are not all defined by the stereotypes about the group.