comment: >
  
  The rule is that police killings don’t cause large protests, George Floyd is an exception. In the US around 1,000 people are killed by police per year.
context: /u/YoloFomoTimeMachine (OP) has awarded 4 delta(s) in this post.
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  ^Delta System Explained ^| ^Deltaboards >
  
  I haven't really kept up with this story, but as I understand it there are 2 big differences here.
  First is a matter of timing. Most COVID lockdowns are done, so while Floyd's death happened at a time where a lot of people had a lot of time on their hands, Nichol's death happened when people are mostly busy with work.
  Second, (if I am getting the facts correct here), the officers involved in Nichol's death were arrested before the story got large coverage, which means there is less to protest about. >
  
  Exactly. Much of the Floyd protests were due to the fact that the cops tired to sweep it under the rug, calling his death a “medical event” in official communication. It wasn’t until a teenager released her personal recording that we realized what happened and saw the attempt to cover it up. 
  Contrast this event, where there was no cover up and the police force acted swiftly to deal with the problematic cops. The video was released by the police themselves after disciplinary action was already taken. 
  This event is the system for punishing bad police working as it should. >
  
  How long until that video was released? >
  
  A couple of weeks. 
  Keep in mind though that in that time, the cops were fired, the DA started the process to charger them with murder and their unit was disbanded. 
  The protests were a desire for accountability. Accountability was already happening when the video was released. >
  
  It could be argued that it only happened this expeditiously because the cops are black this time. Which kind of aligns with the CMV. >
  
  Perhaps. 
  Or perhaps they saw what happened after Floyd and realized that they had to do something fast to prevent riots. 
  We have no way to know. >
  
  If the situation is exactly the same but the cops were white do you think there would be louder protests or be the same? >
  
  Personally I think it would be the same. People weren't protesting nationally because Floyd was murdered. >
  
  I personally think the magnitude of the protests would go beyond the George Floyd protests >
  
  Okay. I don't agree. The national, summer long George Floyd protests weren't actually caused by his murder of even the attempted cover up. They caused by police response to the smaller scale peaceful protests. >
  
  A few other reasons to consider.
  
  
  With Floyd, the video came out from civilian sources immediately and was viral on social media immediately. The police were constantly playing catchup on the narrative, letting the protests build, rather than in this case where the video came out from official sources a week after the event. The Police were much more in control of the narrative for Nichols' murder.
  
  
  It's winter rather than summer. That makes a big difference for people's willingness to rally outside, especially in the northern US.
  
  
  Covid lockdowns and job loss was right before Floyd. People were already feeling trapped and restless and desperate at that time, the protests combined a lot of feeling that was not necessarily related to exact situation they were protesting. 
  
  
  This seems obvious but we already had the George Floyd protests. We did the whole thing already and it seems like nothing changed. We had a couple cities talk about defunding the police, then not really do anything. A lot of the public got burned out on protest, thinking it's not that effective. That energy from 2020 isn't there anymore. Maybe it just needs more time to build back up, but I very much believe that even if these officers were white it would not have caused anything like the Floyd protests. >
  
  !Delta
  Good summaries. Do you also feel the race of Chauvin VS the black cops was a factor as well? >
  
  I think the race of the cops mattered for the police more than people who'd protest. The police stood by a white cop in 2020, but immediately the local police and national orgs condemned these black officers. You can't really protest anything when people are held accountable. The cops were arrested before the video was even released to the public.
  EDIT: Also there have been police murders besides these two and not all of them developed in a 2020 BLM scale protest. 2020 was a perfect storm of a lot of things happening for it to grow to the size it did >
  
  They police did not stand by Chauvin.  The national police union condemned his actions.  He was also arrested 4 days after killing Floyd while these 5 were free for 19 days. >
  
  The George Floyd videos came out instantly and we could all see the brutality that occurred in broad daylight with lots of witnesses.
  Tyre happened at night with almost no one else around. These cops filed false reports that supported their use of force and it took time for their stories to unravel. And only after their arrest the videos were released. >
  
  A couple things, my point was the police did not stand w a white cop in 2020. He was condemned by their national police union, which was unprecedented. This case, the locals pushed a narrative of a combative, uncooperative suspect who had drugs in his system. Also, the bystander video of this case was available in the same time frame, and much more brutal than Mr Floyd’s case, but because not everyone was forced to sit at home due to a pandemic we didn’t all see it at once. 
  This reaction also doesn’t take into account the national media attention. >
  
  
  The only reason I can see
  
  There are clearly at minimum two significant factors that may have influenced the lack of protests/rioting. 
  One - you mentioned.
  Two - The police fired the officers right away and charged them with murder prior to the video being released. 
  To not even mention the second one speaks volumes. 
  It's reasonable to suggest that the race of the officers had some influence on the community reaction. It's unreasonable to pretend that the officers actually being held accountable had nothing to do with it.
  One of the primary things we hear from protestors in these cases for decades is "No Justice. No Peace."
  I would say this case is a good example that with justice, there can be peace. >
  
  Chauvin was charged 4 days after he killed Floyd, whereas these 5 were free for 19 days after Mr Tyres murder. >
  
  The date of the murder doesn't matter. The date of the video release matters. >
  
  The day of both murders there were bystander videos online. >
  
  You're just kicking the rhetorical can. Why were potential protesters aware of the George Floyd video after 2 days and they weren't aware of the Tyre video for a much longer period? If you want to argue that the media plays a part in this then I'll happily concede that point. But the fact remains that George Floyd became national news after 2 days and Tyre Nichols didn't until a much longer period of time had passed. 
  Why do you think George Floyd was national news after 2 days? It's incredibly simple and it's the same reason those protests became so huge in general: the police shot teargas and rubber bullets at the small scale peaceful protesters on day 2. Did that happen with the Tyre Nichols case? I don't think it did, but if I'm wrong let me know. If it did and the media didn't cover it then maybe the media decided to cover for black cops, but again, I doubt it. >
  
  There was no violent reaction to large scale protests because there were no large scale protests. The two biggest reasons potential protesters didn’t notice the videos were, the media, which absolutely had a racial component. If it has been 5 white cops the coverage would’ve been wall to wall. It sells. The media isn’t covering for black cops, but black cops killing a black man doesn’t get clicks the way white cops would. The second reason is we’re not in a lockdown anymore. People were stuck at home w shitty summer tv and nothing else to watch. >
  
  
  There was no violent reaction to large scale protests because there were no large scale protests.
  
  Nope, please go back and read what I wrote. The small scale George Floyd protests were met with violence first, which made them balloon into national and even international protests. 
  
  The two biggest reasons potential protesters didn’t notice the videos were, the media, which absolutely had a racial component. If it has been 5 white cops the coverage would’ve been wall to wall.
  
  Coverage of the George Floyd protests was wall to wall because the small scale protests were met with police violence. Were there no small scale protests for the Tyre Nichols murder? Were those protests met with police violence? If they were met with violence and the media still didn't cover it then you might have a point. 
  
  The second reason is we’re not in a lockdown anymore. People were stuck at home w shitty summer tv and nothing else to watch.
  
  The problem I have with this is you're pointing to a difference in environment when you're ignoring an actual different in circumstances. >
  
  I want to bring up something that I haven’t seen commented yet.
  Fatigue.
  Protests—about anything—go in waves. While there will always be a handful of people constantly doing activist work for their ideas, protests with large swarms of people like we saw in 2020 are not a regular occurrence. People have to go back to work. People have to take care of their kids. People get tired of going out on the streets every day and seeing nothing change. People get frustrated and disillusioned and discouraged. Now, like other people have commented, the sustained mobilization we saw in 2020 was in part due to the pandemic. People had a LOT more time and energy on their hands. But even sans pandemic, the repeated instances of police brutality that have been publicized since about 2014 or so have been…ceaseless. People are tired, and rightfully so, of different iterations of the same shit happening.
  I can assure you that Tyre Nichols murder is not going unnoticed. My professors and classmates are heartbroken discussing it. But I haven’t been able to bring myself to watch the video because I’m tired of seeing human beings murdered by gangs in blue. >
  
  !delta
  I think this is a factor I didn't consider. >
  
  Confirmed: 1 delta awarded to /u/theeincognegro (1∆).
  ^Delta System Explained ^| ^Deltaboards >
  
  When mass protests happen after an event, there is much more going on behind the scenes to trigger the response. George Floyd wasn't not the first black man to be killed by white officers, his was not the first death to have been covered up, and it was not the most recent one. 
  Protests happen because the time is right and activists are successful in sharing stories in a way that calls people to action. The George Floyd protest didn't just happen, they were the result of hard work by a lot of people.
  As a comparison, the moment when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat was not the first time that had happened. Claudette Colvin had done it 15 months earlier but activist leaders chose not to publicize it because she was unmarried and pregnant and she didn't suit the narrative they wanted to tell. It was also not the only time Rosa Parks resisted police, none of which are remembered the same.
  Tyre's death is awful, the fact that the police officers are black doesn't take away from the fact that it was a result of a police system built on white supremacy. The differences people have pointed out that the officers were already punished, makes a difference because of how difficult it is to easily convey a story and inspire people to protest when there is no tangible demand for immediate justice. It's also much harder to maintain momentum for the same thing when the first time didn't end the murders.
  More than 1000 people have been killed by police since George Floyd, none of them sparked the same response on the same scale. The fact that this case is being singled out and compared to George Floyd is not because it doesn't serve the community protesting, it's because it serves white supremacists to pretend that the only death not protested, was the one where the police officers were black. >
  
  There have been protests. They aren't as big as the floyd protests but it's not we have multiple city wide protests on the regular. >
  
  
  So we've all seen the video.
  i bet a lot of people don't even know Tyres name.
  
  How does this make sense? >
  
  Floyd was killed months into an unprecedented lockdown, which had everyone running on extremely high emotions.  Couple that with the fact that many were unemployed and had nothing but time on their hands, and you've got a recipe for tensions to flare.
  It was also late spring / early summer, which meant people could go out and protest through the night without risking frostbite.
  
  So overall, I'd say as an act. It's worse.
  
  If you actually care about this topic, don't make it a contest about whose violent death at the hands of police was "worse".  They're all awful and need to be treated as equally problematic and vile. >
  
  !Delta
  I'll give you a delta for that. Good points
  Still feel like race was also a major factor. >
  
  If race matters so much to you why don't you think people are protesting the white officer who was involved in the traffic stop? Why do you ignore his involvement when he is facing consequences from the department, just as the murderers are? >
  
  Because the white officer didn't kill him?. He s likely the least culpable. >
  
  Why should that matter to someone looking to bring down white supremacy? Wouldn't they see him as most culpable?
  He doesn't need to get his hands dirty. He gets to walk away. Sounds like white supremacy to me, no? >
  
  I think they see Chauvin as responsible since he kneeled on his neck.
  I think the five cops who killed Nichols are also the most responsible. >
  
  But all seven officers involved will be facing consequences, so "most responsibility" doesn't really work out. >
  
  The protests themselves were never solely because a man was killed by the police, they were also largely fueled by the outrage that the offending officers were protected from any repercussions by the police as an institution. That’s a blatant turnover of our expectations of justice, and that gets people out on the streets. In this case, 5 officers were involved in the beating of a man to the point of dying in the hospital and, as a result, those 5 officers were immediately fired and are now being charged for their actions. A man was still murdered by police, but after that everything proceeded as it should have. Not a whole lot to incite protests when most people are in agreement that things are proceeding as they should. 
  In a roundabout way, your statement might be accurate in that the immediate firing and filing of criminal charges might have only happened because the officers weren’t white. Had they been some good ol’ boys, I might have expected them to get the usual paid administrative leave until things blow over. I haven’t seen the video myself yet, but it would have to be pretty damn brutal for it to be the worst police brutality I ever saw, and that’s what it would have to be for 5 officers to be immediately fired and charged. >
  
  There were protests. A lot of them, and all over. There were definitely protests in Memphis. 
  What was different was that the police department handled the issue correctly, for once. The department showed support for the family and for justice, instead of trying to protect the cops that did it. The response was quick and decisive. 
  So the people who protested peacefully felt heard by the system, and there were no riot police sent there to shut them down. It was a lesson in civic response, and there was nothing to set it over the edge into a riot. 
  Nobody-literally nobody- cares that the officers weren’t white. Their actions were part of the same systemic racism, and their own race played no part. The reason they were inclined to treat a traffic suspect this way was because they were in a place where policing is excessive. This wouldn’t have happened in a white neighborhood, because the police there are conditioned to treat citizens as  people and not just targets. 
  One can get into circular logic about whether excessive policing is the result of higher violent crime rates, or if higher crime rates are the result of systemic conditions imposed on those areas- one of which is oppressive policing. The fact is, chicken/egg makes no difference. Those cops did what they did because they were conditioned to treat their suspects that way, and the fact they were black and still did it suggests they might ignore the systemic issues that lead to that type of policing, and instead just perpetuate the standard because it is what it is. >
  
  The police were fired and arrested before the video was even released, what was there to protest? To re-arrest them? >
  
  
  The only reason I can see both the media, and the public haven't given this much attention, and there hasn't been a major blowback is becsuse the main criticism of the Floyd killing was based on the concept of whiteness.
  
  I disagree. I remember back during the George Floyd riots, a lot of the issues people had and were protesting specifically about, especially in the beginning, was about Derek Chaivin and bringing about justice that people felt wasn't being served. In this case the police were removed from duty and sentenced to some pretty harsh things before it really even went mainstream. Do you really think that didn't play a huge role in how things are playing out differently? >
  
  In Minnesota, with wind chill, it’s pretty much been below zero since the video came out.  Difficult weather to protest extensively in… >
  
  There's nothing to protest! The officers involved have already been fired and charged with murder. They've also disbanded (or are talking about dibanding) the police unit. I can't see what a protest would rally for?
  This isn't a time for protests. This isn't a classic "racism" issue. Right now is a time for vigils; for reflection on America, for us to have a collective howl about how police and all the guns in the US keep killing innocents. >
  
  There were still protests after Chauvin was arrested and charged. >
  
  Were they protesting to try and get Chauvin arrested and charged? Or did they have a different goal? >
  
  They had a different goal. Largely centered around ideas concerning whiteness and white supremacy. They don't have that now. So there's simply less outrage, since the cops were black that killed him >
  
  
  Largely centered around ideas concerning whiteness and white supremacy
  
  Was it? I remember it being anti police. Any sources showing anti white supremacy as central to their movement?
  
  They don't have that now.
  
  What DO they have now? Don't you think anti police sentiment enough to protest over? >
  
  "Dismantling white supremacy" was one of the central themes of blm. It was brought up constantly. There's tons of documentation for this. >
  
  So it wont be hard for you to provide some sources.
  Care to address the rest of my comment? >
  
  I thought this was about protests, not theory? Where is your protest footage demonstrating that this was part of their demands? >
  
  It is more likely that the relatively subdued police response haven't caused the protests to escalate. If you recall, police across the nation reacted aggresively to the floyd protests, which in turn led to larger and more aggressive protests. I mean, this literally happens across the globe... when the authorities overreact to small, peaceful protests, those protests become massive become nation-wide riots >
  
  Atlanta called out a thousand national guard. I wouldn't call that subdued. >
  
  Subdued as in disposition. The national guard isn't acting aggresively towards the protesters,  nor did it during the floyd protests.