And Yet Again: "You're On My Neck. I can't Breathe!"

This time it was in Canton, Ohio. It wasn't over a possibly bad twenty-dollar bill. It was a traffic accident that broke a pole and the driver fled the scene, went to a bar, and was belligerent. None of those things carry the death penalty... except possibly when the culprit, Frank Tyson,  is a black man and the arresting cops are white men.

But black men are "scary", doncha know! I guess especially so if they can yell and wave their arms around while you outnumber them and carry guns, eh? Even handcuffed down on the floor but still capable of yelling and thrashing around a bit, amiright? Ooooooooooohhhh!

That is just one thing that is a tragic, and which should be criminal, echo of the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. In his case too, it was one black man against white officers over a much too minor offense. Floyd's death was filmed nonstop for over 9 minutes by a determined young girl with a cell phone. This man's was filmed by multiple police body cams, and without the intent to capture every possible second of what transpired, judging by the quality of the video shown on morning news. Once the man was handcuffed with his hands behind him and lying face down on the floor, struggling, saying over and over that they were trying to kill him, they proceeded to do exactly that. Clearly heard are him protesting faintly, "I can't breathe. I can't... I can't...You're on my neck. I can't breathe." and the officer kneeling on him telling him that he was fine. It takes 5 1/2 minutes before the officers check on him, with one saying, "He might be out." Another three minutes pass before somebody starts chest compressions, obviously too late to do any good. 

What will it take for, first, cops all over to realize that there are better ways to restrain somebody that do not involve stopping them breathing by being on top of them?  Or that (black) people don't have to be totally pacified into complete inertness before they are considered restrained? When will we make lethal force for non-lethal acts itself a crime, not just in one set of trials in Minneapolis but all over?

Or are we (still) the kind of country where we have to teach black males to "play dead so you don't become dead" in hopes that it's actually good advice?

How many more George Floyds and Frank Tysons do we need in order to produce change in this country?