At least 1,068 people have been killed by US police since Floyd’s death

US police have continued to take the lives of a large number of people since the brutal killing of George Floyd by physical force a year ago triggered the mass protests against police brutality and injustice in the country.

Agencies on Tuesday cited a rights advocacy group as reporting that despite nationwide protests demanding reforms in police, more than a thousand people had been killed since the unarmed Black man from the US state of Minnesota was killed in May 2020.

Mapping Police Violence has recorded at least 1,068 police killings across the country, an average of three killings a day, Since Floyd’s murder.

Over the past year since Floyd was killed, 25 states saw a decrease, while 19 states saw an increase and seven states saw no change in the number of police killings compared to the same period a year before.

New Mexico in the west had the highest rate of police killings at 10 people killed by police for every million inhabitants.

The East Coast states of New Jersey, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, respectively, had the fewest police killings at less than 1 person per million inhabitants over the past 12 months.

According to an analysis by Mapping Police Violence, Black Americans are nearly three times more likely to be killed by the police compared to white people in America.

Mapping Police Violence also found that “levels of violent crime in US cities do not determine rates of police violence”.

Policeviolencereport.org, another right advocacy group, performed a further study and found that Black people were more likely to be killed by police (27 percent), more likely to be unarmed (35 percent), and less likely to be threatening someone when killed (36 percent).

Meanwhile, less than 2 percent of officers who took part in the killings were charged with a crime. Out of the 9,170 recorded police killings from 2013 to 2021, only 153 police officers, 1.7 percent, were charged and 38 (0.4 percent) were convicted for the crime.

On April 20, 2021, Floyd’s killer, former police officer Derek Chauvin, was found guilty by the court of law of murder and manslaughter.

However, he has not yet been sentenced but faces up to 40 years in prison.

Floyd’s killing led to worldwide demands for justice and an end to systemic racism against colored people.

Several events are planned across the US on May 25 to remember Floyd and to reiterate calls for police reforms and an end to racial injustice.

Floyd’s family is scheduled to meet with US President Joe Biden at the White House to mark the anniversary of his death.

Former President Barack Obama said on Tuesday there were “reasons to hope” in a tweet that acknowledged the anniversary.

George Floyd was murdered one year ago today. Since then, hundreds more Americans have died in encounters with police—parents, sons, daughters, friends taken from us far too soon. But the last year has also given us reasons to hope.

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) May 25, 2021