The tragic death of George Floyd on May 25 in police custody has brought back racism front and centre to the American society one again.

Floyd, a 46 year old African American, was killed when police officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee against Floyd's neck for nine minutes. It is worth noting that Floyd was already in handcuffs and was laying down face first on the road when the police officer started pressing his knee on his neck. The officer continued to do so even when Floyd was heard repeatedly saying, " I can't breathe" , "please" and "Mama". There were three other officers on the scene and they didn't stop this act of cruelty.

This death sparked outrage among his community members and the outrage spread nationally. There were protests in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area on May 26, but they soon turned violent as a police precinct and two stores were set on fire, and many stores were looted and damaged. There were some skirmishes with police, who fired tear gas and rubber bullets.

The protests spread to other parts of the country in solidarity with the people of Minneapolis, with events organized in every major US city, from Washington D.C to Los Angeles. However, more violence was also reported, as public property was damaged and shops were looted. The violent protests forced many cities across the US to enforce overnight curfews, which the protesters did not pay heed to. They wanted justice and wanted to register their pain.  

Even while US President Donald Trump gave his condolence to George Flyod's family, he came down hard on violent protests. Positioning himself as the "law and order" president, Trump wanted to bring the fight to the looters. On May 29, he tweeted, "...when the looting starts, the shooting starts". It is important to note that Trump actively backed protests demanding the end of lockdowns, encouraging a mob of mostly white, heavily armed protests to storm the Michigan state capitol, just a few weeks ago.

From then, he said that he was considering using a draconian law to federalize the state police force and that he even considered bringing the army in to control the spread of violence in various cities.

On June 2, while he was at the Rose Garden giving a speech swearing to uphold the US constitution, police and federal forces forced out peaceful protesters out of Lafayette park. As soon as he finished his speech, Trump walked out of the White House, crossed the park and took a photo outside St. John's Episcopal Church. Police used tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets to disperse the crowd so Trump could have his photo-op, media reports say. It is also worth noting that  the St. John's Church's nursery and basement were burned by protesters late on Monday evening.  

One of the sharpest criticism of Trump's actions came from former Defence Secretary General Jim Mattis, who wrote in The Atlantic, "Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people—does not even pretend to try. Instead, he tries to divide us,” Mattis writes. “We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership. We can unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society. This will not be easy, as the past few days have shown, but we owe it to our fellow citizens; to past generations that bled to defend our promise; and to our children.”

Even the current Defenece Secretary Mark Esper was initially against bringing federal forces to help in law enforcement. But, since then, he backtracted on his stand, and ordered home several hundred active-duty troops, reports say. The Politico in a report, says that these troops were brought to the national capital region to respond to protests if needed.