Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Friday that he stands “with the protesters” taking to the streets over the Minneapolis police-involved death of George Floyd, as he called the incident a “continuing injustice.”
“Enough is enough,” Cuomo said during his daily coronavirus press briefing in New Rochelle, explaining that the Monday death of Floyd — which has sparked national outrage — “is not an isolated incident.”
“It is a continuum of cases and situations that have been going on for decades and decades and decades,” Cuomo said as he referred to black men dying after excessive force at the hands of police officers “chapters in a book.”
“And the title of that book is ‘Continuing Injustice and Inequality in America,’” said Cuomo.
The governor went on to list black men who were victims of high-profile police brutality cases, including Rodney King, Amadou Diallo, Oscar Grant, Eric Garner, Michael Brown and Freddie Gray.
“I was there for Rodney King, Amadou Diallo … When does it change?” Cuomo asked. “It’s been 30 years since Rodney King … Where was the progress? Eric Garner. I’m with the protesters.”
Cuomo said he does not condone the “arson and the thuggery and the burglaries” in the wake of the death of Floyd, but supports the protests.
“I stand figuratively with the protesters,” he said. “I stand against the arson, the burglary and the criminality.”
Floyd, who was unarmed, died after a white Minneapolis police officer pinned his knee on the neck of a handcuffed Floyd for several minutes during a disturbing incident that was caught on camera.
“That’s why the outrage. That’s why the frustration and the anger,” Cuomo said. “It’s about the same situation happening again and again and again and seeing the same thing and not learning the lesson.”
Cuomo added, “This country is better than this and it shouldn’t take this long to end basic discrimination and basic injustice.”
The governor likened the injustice to the fact that the coronavirus has disproportionately affected black and Hispanic New Yorkers.
“Coronavirus affects and kills more minorities than anyone else,” Cuomo said.
