For me it has zero to do with politics. It has everything to do with how the man was already subdued/ in cuffs and offered zero threat to the officer(s.) And that brings up the contributing yet equally horrific factor of 3 officers being complicit in the direct abuse of a citizen.
George Floyd wasn't a model citizen and I don't care. The police are not there to try and sentence a citizen.
I'd say for me, the Houston Five situation is what turned me at my own core beliefs and destroyed my denial on the corruption of the police; and had me already voicing my opinion that we should be going after the leadership of the police organization if we ever wanted the abuses to stop/ wane. The Floyd death was an exponential amplification of the extreme lack of accountability for police.
At work we have had no fewer than 6 'wellness checks' where the forum is opened and people just say what's on their hearts and minds regarding the whole past 8-9 days. So many people are truly hurting/ scared/ angry. I am an admitted flag waving sonofabitch, who has never hidden that. Hell i think I have about 5 tshirts in my wardrobe that are not Army/ West Point/ Navy/ or Marines. On a couple of the calls I have shared how we say as a nation that "liberty and justice for all" is who we claim to be, yet we are so dreadfully short of that right now. Both times I went there it was dead silence on the call, and I have no idea if people agreed with me or were shocked that i said it. I am very disappointed/ pissed off that we have citizens who don't feel protected by our laws, and it shouldn't take anyone having to convince them otherwise. It should be an innate part of being an American. That's where I am at these days. It is a tragic situation, absolutely; yet, we are not a nation of perfection. We never have been. We can be a society that moves towards justice and what's right for our people. We have to. We have no choice.
Be who we say we are...