George Floyd Statue Finds a Newark Comfort Zone
NEWARK – From the looks of him, everything is just fine and dandy.
And that is what artist Stan Watts wants people to think upon gazing at a life-size, bronze statue of George Floyd that was unveiled this afternoon outside City Hall.
As Watts told a crowd of more than 100 dignitaries and onlookers, he portrayed Floyd “relaxing and chilling on a bench.”
Floyd was a large man and the statue reflects that. Floyd is positioned on one end of the bench, allowing room for people to sit next to him and to be photographed. Many did just that when the ceremonies ended.
Mayor Ras Baraka called the statue a “gift” to the city of Newark. It may not be a permanent feature of the City Hall landscape, but Baraka said it should be there for at least a year.
Floyd, of course, gained instant notoriety after he was killed in May, 2020 by a police officer in Minneapolis. One officer, Derek Chauvin, who was recorded on video kneeling on Floyd’s neck, has been convicted and is awaiting sentencing. Floyd’s death sparked marches, protests and at times disturbances nationwide throughout last summer.
Baraka acknowledged that over the years there have been many other victims of police misconduct in Newark and New Jersey.
But he said he thinks Floyd’s death will be different. The mayor remarked how the lynching of 14-year-old Emmett Till in Mississippi in 1955 sparked the civil rights movement of the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Baraka said there are signs Floyd’s death is doing the same some 60 years later.
It’s true that legislation has passed in some locales to ban chokeholds. The House also passed a police reform bill, but it has stalled in the Senate.
Leon Pickney, a filmmaker instrumental in getting the Floyd statue created, said he was encouraged that last year’s protests included a racially diverse group of people.
Baraka called for the state Legislature to support a bill that would allow Newark and other municipalities to create civilian boards to review police action.
Larry Hamm, another speaker and a long-time civil rights activist, wasn’t all that optimistic, saying people have been fighting for civilian review of police for about 60 years.
But he summed up the day’s events this way:
“The fight for George Floyd is not over.”
George Floyd: fathered multiple kids with several women, did not live with nor support his children, spent years in prison, committed violent crimes, and was a drug addict. A true icon in the liberal community. So true it hurts.
I’ll be sure to pee on it (and maybe poop) next time I am unfortunate to be in NJ
Someone should make bronze statues of the people George Floyd violently assaulted, and place them next to him. Oh, and yes – there needs to be some kind of addition, showing his drug paraphernalia and a gun (representative of both Floyd and Newark).
why is a drug addict convict who was sadly murdered by an idiot cop getting a statue? his death was tragic, wrong and outright murder but he is not a hero.
He didn’t deserve to die the way he did. His life was taken as if he was lynched by mob in the 1920’s! Sometimes even the LEO’s make mistakes. Leave his statue up!
Put our Presidents and honorable men of history back up ! Because this career theif, drug addict, pregnant girlfriend beater is black we make a statue of him.
Yet we allow our war hero Generals, and president statues be destroyed by Vandals criminals and BLM. THIS WAS/IS OUR HISTORY. BLM got SCANDALIZED AND MILLIONS STOLEN. SURPRISE SURPRISE!!
This Human Being is a symbol of why Black people can not be so gullible, naïve and trusting of the White majority population in this country. His death made us “WAKE UP” from our misleading dream of integration and reminded us that Martin Luther King said that in retrospect, he believes that he was inviting his people into a burning house. This country only uses us and never intends to right its wrong of crimes against us. Even if George Floyd was a White man, would he deserve to have his life taken unjustly? Out of your disgusting mouths come hateful words against a BLACK MAN because you are as evil as the words you speak. Luke 6:45 “An evil person produces evil out of the evil stored up in his heart, for his mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart.”
This Human Being is a symbol of why Black people can not be so gullible, naïve and trusting of the White majority population in this country. His death made us “WAKE UP” from our misleading dream of integration and reminded us that Martin Luther King said that in retrospect, he believes that he was inviting his people into a burning house. It seems this country and its racist leadership/ employees only uses us and never intends to be fair and right its wrong of crimes against us. I ask you who sound extremely racist, if George Floyd was a White man, would he deserve to have his life taken unjustly? Please leave the statue alone you who out of your disgusting mouths come hateful words against a BLACK MAN because he is Black. How do you sound? You sound as evil as the words you speak. Luke 6:45 “An evil person produces evil out of the evil stored up in his heart, for his mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart.”