The Daily Signal - Victor Davis Hanson: The Stain of George Floyd Riots on America, Five Years Later

Episode Date: May 30, 2025

Five years later, Victor Davis Hanson takes a hard look at real aftermath of Floyd’s death on this episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words.” “ There was $2 billion in damage. There was a police precinct burned to the ground, in Minneapolis. There was a federal courthouse that was burned. There was a historic St. John's Church—across from the White House—that was torched. A mob tried to go into the White House grounds and reach the president.” “And the country now is learning it's lessons. It's trying to find a sober solution. A reaction. I think they're trying—we're trying to come to a conclusion. Why in the world did we go completely collectively insane?” (1:27) Background on George Floyd (2:49) The Aftermath and Riots (5:00) Systemic Racism and Anti-Racism Movement (5:55) Impact on Universities and Society (7:01) Current Reflections and Conclusions (8:55) Closing Remarks and Call to Action 👉Don’t miss out on Victor’s latest videos by subscribing to The Daily Signal today. You’ll be notified every time a new piece of content drops: https://youtube.com/dailysignal?sub_confirmation=1    👉If you can’t get enough of Victor Davis Hanson from The Daily Signal, subscribe to his official YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/victordavishanson7273    👉He’s also the host of “The Victor Davis Hanson Show,” available wherever you prefer to watch or listen. Links to the show and exclusive content are available on his website: https://victorhanson.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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We'd love to talk. Business. This week was the fifth anniversary, May 25th of 2020, of the tragic death of George Floyd. It seems that it just happened, but it was actually five years ago. And almost everything that has transpired after that in terms of racial relations has been disastrous. Unlike the January 6th riot, this thing went on for the end of May, June, July, August, September. Remember, Kamala Harris said it wasn't going to stop, nor should it stop. It's going to keep going to election day.

Professor Kendi and Professor DeAngelo or journalist DeAngelo, they created this idea of systemic racism. You had to be racist in an anti-racist fashion. And now maybe at the end of five years, we can look back with a little bit more circumspection and see what actually happened. Hello, this is Victor Davis-Hanson for the Daily Signal. This week was the fifth anniversary, May 25th of 2020. of the tragic death of George Floyd. It seems that it just happened, but it was actually five years ago. And almost everything that has transpired after that in terms of racial relations has been disastrous.

And now maybe at the end of five years we can look back with a little bit more circumspection and see what actually happened. George Floyd was a career felon. He was in the process of trying to pass off counterfeit bills. He was reportedly under the influence of severe, powerful drugs, perhaps fentanyl in addition. He may have been suffering from post-COVID syndromes. He had a heart condition. One of his prior felonies was putting a gun to a woman's belly in a home invasion. Nevertheless, when he tried to pass this counterfeit bill, the story.

owner called the Minneapolis Police. They tried to arrest him. He resisted arrest. He was a very big man. And then Officer Chauvin, who was supposedly an expert in techniques that were institutionalized by the Minneapolis Police Department, unfortunately put his knee on George Floyd's neck. And there were varying autopsies. One said that, killed him. Another one perhaps said it didn't, but nevertheless, the expression on Officer Shoban's face was frozen into eternity, and that sparked the idea that he was a white policeman conducting a typical murder of an unarmed black suspect. And what followed was near mayhem. Officer Chauvin, remember, was convicted of a second or third-degree murder. He was sentenced to 20 years. His appeals have run out

with the Supreme Court, he'll be in prison probably for much of his life. George Floyd, of course, died on the way to the hospital or on the way to the hospital. And what happened immediately was this huge riot five years ago. Unlike the January 6th riot, this thing went on for the end of May, June, July, August, September. Remember, Kamala Harris said it wasn't going to stop, nor should it stop. It's going to keep going to election day. She said that, of course. Then later she called on it. She said she didn't mean the violence. aspect. But violent aspects there were. There was $2 billion in damage. There was a police precinct burned to the ground in Minneapolis. There was a federal courthouse that was burned. There was a

historic St. John's Church across from the White House that was torched. A mob tried to go into the White House grounds and reach the president. But even more serious than all of that, we were coming off COVID. People had been in a lockdown. There had been a national quarantine. And this, their news was from the television in an isolated situation in their own home with no humor in our action. So these riots were kind of an expression of breaking out. And more importantly, they were subject to rumor, suspicion lies. And one of the great lies was that just, George Floyd was iconic or emblematic of young black men, middle-aged black men that were systematically being killed while armed by, on-armed by the police. That was not true.

The Washington Post even said it wasn't. That year, there was only 18 black males who were stopped by the police in the entire population of 340 million people. This year, there were only 10. It was a proportionate to the number of people by race who were stopped by the police. 11 or 12 million each year. Professor Kendi and Professor DeAngelo or journalist DeAngelo, they created this idea of systemic racism and you had to be racist in an anti-racist fashion. In other words, the only way to deal with this systemic racism was to be pro-Black.

And what followed then was a defunding of the police. It caused a huge spike in crime, I think 20,000 murders in 2020. The Black Lives Matter group was energized, and now as we look back at it, the architects of that movement have sconsed with the money. It has collapsed. The women that were in charge have apparently embezzled the money or taken it. They have nice homes, but it's an inert group. It had a lot of other deleterious effects. Universities trying to get in on the virtue singling and performance art caring drop the SAT.

They dropped the comparative ranking of high school GDPAs. They dropped meritocracy. They started really enforcing DEI in the sense of loyalty oaths. You have to show you, show us that you're loyal to the concept of DEI, that you've done something for it, or we were not going to hire you. and the universities then went into something that we could call repertory admissions. Fast forward five years looking back and looking at all the damage of the downtowns in America,

many of them that were destroyed. Today they have not recovered in many cases. Look at the intense dissension and acrimony and racial relations that related to it. Look at the universities who were chastised by the Supreme Court. Court for using race in a racist fashion and missions. They've been discredited. And the people who capitalize on the death of George Floyd are, for the most part, discredited. And the country now is learning its lessons. It's trying to find a sober solution, a reaction. I think we're trying, we're trying to come to a conclusion, why in the world did we go completely, collectively

insane? And the result of that is we don't think that. The quarantines were a good idea. They were more injurious to the country than was COVID itself. We don't think, and we know that the police should be defunded, much less are they attacking black on our males? Just the opposite is happening. We look at the career of Professor Kendi. He went through $45 million at Boston University for an anti-racist center, and apparently the money was squandered. I mentioned the BLM squandering.

So we're getting back to the idea that when you use race in any fashion for bias or preference, it's racist. It doesn't matter what Professor Kendi says or it doesn't matter about the reactions to the death of George Floyd. It's racist. As far as George Floyd is concerned, had Officer Chauvin not had that expression on his face and had he lifted his knee up when George Floyd said he couldn't believe this entire catastrophe probably could have been avoided. Or maybe not, because there were people who were looking for an occasion like this to spread mayhem and to recalibate race relations in the United States into what they would call anti-racism, which means it's permissible for someone who considers himself a victim to be a victimizer.

If you think you're a victim of racist, then you can use racial preferences yourself with impunity. In any case, it was a sad chapter in American history. Thank you very much. This is Victor Davis-Hansson for The Daily Signal. Thank you for tuning in to The Daily Signal. Please like, share, and subscribe to be notified for more content like this. You can also check out my own website at victorhansan.com and subscribe for exclusive features in addition. Thank you.