"Please, your knee is on my neck." Those were the words that reverberated around the world. Words that not even a global pandemic could silence and, one year on from the death of George Floyd, emotions still run high.
On May 25, 2020, George Floyd's life would end following his arrest for attempting to buy cigarettes with a counterfeit $20 bill. Floyd was subjected to a knee on his neck by police officer Derek Chauvin for almost nine minutes.
Floyd's death sparked worldwide mass protests including here in New Zealand and triggered the founding of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Protests were held here in New Zealand despite warnings from the government about congregating during a lockdown, following Black Lives Matter protests in places like Wellington and in Auckland's Aotea Square. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said at the time, "They had breached the rules, it was not right. New Zealanders have given up a lot and I need to keep the team of five million to stay together so that we can reach the finish line."
In April this year, Chauvin was found guilty of all charges and convicted, with sentencing coming up in June of this year.
Cameras change policing
There was further unrest following the deaths of other Black Americans, including Daunte Wright in April this year, and Breonna Taylor two months before, Indigenous rights advocate Joe Trinder says technology has now made it much harder for Police to conceal their actions.
"Cameras have changed policing. So now officers in the United States have body cams, and you can retrieve that video with a version of an OIA request, and the public, everyone owns a cell phone."
Trinder also says that this type of policing is not strictly confined to the USA. "Recently in Taupō, they had a very similar George Floyd incident when a police officer put his neck on a young Māori man's throat. Tangata whenua are going through the exact same struggle that African American people are going through."
Regardless of the attacks that have come Black Lives Matter's way Trinderis clear that the movement has not lost the very essence of what it was started for. "Black Lives Matter is a civil rights movement, and its objective is to address poor police work and the abuse of people of colour by law enforcement agencies."
The big question remains though, whether police enforcement throughout the world has begun to make changes.