Former United States of America President, Barack Hussein Obama has criticized the killing of a black man by Minnesota police which occurred on Monday, May 25, 2020.
According to the 44th US President, racism in America in 2020 cannot and should not be ‘normal’.
“This shouldn’t be normal in 2020 America. It can’t be normal” he said.
A situation unfolded at an Arab-American-owned convenient store Cup Foods in the city of Minneapolis where employees of the store called police on Mr Floyd after suspecting he had used a counterfeit $20 (£16) note to buy a pack of cigarettes.
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According to the BBC, the police were attempting to put him in a police vehicle when he dropped to the ground, telling them he was claustrophobic.
Police report suggests the George Floyd physically resisted officers and was handcuffed.
In the video of the incident widely circulated on social media, a white officer was seen with his knee on Mr Floyd’s neck, pinning him down with Floyd weakly saying, “please, I can’t breathe” and “don’t kill me”.
Following the Monday incident, the city of Minneapolis has been plunged into days of rioting as the protesters set parts of the city ablaze.
On Friday evening, demonstrators besieged the gates of the White House with placards and chants ‘I can’t breathe.”
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The Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin has been arrested and charged with murder and sacked from his post, together with three other officers.
The United Nations has condemned the killing of 46-year-old George Floyd urging the US to take bold steps to end killings and injustice in America.
Speaking on the incident which has caught global attention, Barack Obama who has consistently opined that the United States is ‘shrouded with hate, anger, racism’ said on Friday, “If we want our children to grow up in a nation that lives up to its highest ideals, we can and must be better.”
Meanwhile, American President Donald Trump has described the incident as “a terrible, terrible thing.”
He said he had asked the justice department to expedite an investigation it announced on Friday into whether any civil rights laws were violated in Mr Floyd’s death.