One doesn't simply suffer police brutality

The past days, news about the death of George Floyd at the hands of a US police officer sparked protests around the world and flooded both social media and news reports with messages of grief, frustration, anger and rage. What was so different about this one was the graphic nature, with his final moments and words captured on camera and broadcast around the globe for everyone to see and experience. What was supposed to be a simple police arrest turned into an execution through asphyxiation.

Perhaps it was this very graphical reporting of George's final moments that triggered something in me. I'm not entirely sure. What I do know is that somehow it has made me suffer flashbacks to experiencing police brutality, amidst the realisation of how much of a part that experience still is of me today. It's the kind of experience which nobody should go through, and yet it can happen to anyone, anywhere.

One should never have to consider the circumstances when police brutality occurs. Although the police has a monopoly on using force, they do not have a legal right to use excessive force.


George did not resist arrest, yet he was sat on, and had his larynx constricted along with the rest of his neck by an officer pushing his knee onto it. There is nothing that could justify such behaviour on the side of the police officers, the rest of whom just silently stood by and watched this brutal execution.

It brought back memories of me being thrown onto the ground by police officers, of having handcuffs put on so tightly that they bit into my flesh, of having my head bashed repeatedly against the side of a car, of being sat upon, of forcefully being stripped naked and thrown into a holding cell.


In one brutal moment, you lose your rights as a human being and instead you're just this 'thing' that the police can do with whatever pleases them.


I guess I was lucky that I only suffered severe bruising over my entire body, bruised bone in my right knee (no torn meniscus, as was suspected) and peripheral neuropathy in my right hand from nerve damage that persists until today. At least I am not dead, like George.


As for whether George truly did try to pay with a false $20 note, or what happened before the police had their way with me, it truly does not matter. Because police brutality is never acceptable. Even a serial killer or child rapist isn't to be brutalised by the police. Because as an extension of the government and thus us, the public, the police is a reflection of our values and what we deem to be acceptable behaviour.


Maya