Arizona State University (ASU) is currently displaying sacred modern art: a collection of items collected from the fiery Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests sparked by George Floyd’s death in police custody nearly four years ago.
The exhibit — titled “Twin Flames: The George Floyd Uprising from Minneapolis to Phoenix” — will be on display at the ASU Art Museum through July 28. The exhibit has been on display since February.
The 2022 auction was the first held by the Minneapolis-based George Floyd Global Memorial (GFGM). While the donation page for the event displayed the thousands raised for other auctioned items and separate donations, the right to display the protest exhibits was hidden as “priceless.”
ASU Center for Work and Democracy (CWD) also participated in the gala for the auction, where they displayed a short film they produced, “The Free State of George Floyd.” The film declared that Floyd was murdered by police, provided a cursory overview of the protests that subsequently broke out throughout the world, and focused on “George Floyd Square,” the site of Floyd’s death that protesters cordoned off.
“Twice a day, the community meets [in George Floyd Square] to dismantle white supremacy and build Black liberation,” states the ASU film.
According to his autopsy, Floyd died of an overdose of fentanyl and meth, and his enlarged heart from prolonged drug usage contributed to his death. BLM protestors and activists have long claimed that Floyd died due to the officer, Derek Chauvin, kneeling on his neck.
“Layer by layer dissection of the anterior strap muscles of the neck discloses no areas of contusion or hemorrhage within the musculature. The thyroid cartilage and hyoid bone are intact. The larynx is lined by intact mucosa. The thyroid is symmetric and red-brown, without cystic or nodular change. The tongue is free of bite marks, hemorrhage, or other injuries. The cervical spinal column is palpably stable and free of hemorrhage.”
The Hennepin County Medical Examiner, where Floyd’s autopsy took place, reported that Floyd’s toxicology report revealed “pretty high” levels of fentanyl in Floyd conducive to pulmonary edema, along with enlarged lungs.
“That [level of fentanyl] is a fatal level of fentanyl under normal circumstances,” read the medical examiner summary. “[The medical examiner] said that if Mr. Floyd had been found dead in his home (or anywhere else) and that there were no other contributing factors he would conclude that it was an overdose death.”
The museum partnered with ASU CWD and GFGM to curate this latest honoring of Floyd’s death. The collection features five themes: “Black Lives Matter,” “Community Brings Safety,” “Justice,” “Say Their Names,” and “Solidarity.”
Jeanelle Austin, executive director of the George Floyd Global Memorial, told Southwest Contemporary that Floyd had been “lynched.”
Rashad Shabazz, ASU associate professor of African and African American studies, said in a statement to reporters that the exhibit was important to remind the community that Phoenix and Arizona are steeped in racism, especially the city’s police.
“We think it’s also important to have it at a place like Arizona because Arizona and the Phoenix metropolitan area has a long history of racism, of anti-Black violence and police violence against Black and brown and Indigenous people and people with serious mental illnesses,” said Shabazz. “Our police department is currently under investigation with the Justice Department. We have a history of this here, and we hope this fosters a dialogue.”
On the steps leading up to the gallery, the museum wrote the names of 42 individuals who have died interacting with Maricopa County law enforcement since 2013. The exhibit features many cardboard signs and printed posters from protests, a short documentary about the George Floyd Square, and a billboard featuring Floyd.
ASU Art Museum director Miki Garcia told reporters that the display not only served as a monument to inclusivity and innovation, but a memorial.
“This is a people’s memorial, and this has a right to be acknowledged and honored just like all the memorials that are out in the public landscape,” said Garcia.
Rashad Shabazz, ASU associate professor said
Phoenix and Arizona are steeped in racism
and YOU sir/IT/whatever
are welcome to MOVE ELSE WHERE
Here’s what should be in an exhibit of the 2020 riots. A piece of charred timber from the sports bar a black vet was getting ready to open when the rioters torched it, some broken glass from the window of the beauty shop that was looted, some of the ashes from the thousands of books burned when Uncle Hugo’s science fiction bookstore was destroyed. The innocent victims of the rioting should be remembered, not some drug using criminal thug.
I’m not surprised this happened after learning that ASU suspended their police chief for clearing out the rioters on campus and their tent city. The legislature should send a message. Reduce ASU’s funding next year by whatever amount they wasted on this crap.
Sick!
This documentary dispels doubts about the death of Floyd, get facts and stop promoting propaganda.
https://youtu.be/eFPi3EigjFA?si=NqIR4tnuTcIRQ7U2
Also here: https://rumble.com/v3vyvzv-the-fall-of-minneapolis.html
Floyd was nothing but a criminal, so why idolize him to our society? If he didn’t die then he most surely would have died some other way committing a crime.
What a waste trying to GLORIFA a druggie thug. It has been proven he WAS NOT murdered but died of drug use. The cop was doing as he had been trained but then the cops are always wrong when it comes to anything that the deminazi party and its followers want. He was so good he had to run away from texas to a lib area to score again. Trash like this need to be memoriolized int the corner of the local dump.
If we adopt the attitude of Rashad Shabazz Arizona would devolve into Chicago, East St. Louis, San Francisco, Portland etc. Just think, our tax money pays this guy for this hateful speech.
“Jeanelle Austin, executive director of the George Floyd Global Memorial, told Southwest Contemporary that Floyd had been ‘lynched.'”
The irony is Floyd was arrested and detained IAW with the law; according to this bird-brain’s ‘definition’, it was Ofc. Chauvin that was actually lynched.
“Accuse your opponent of what you are doing, to create confusion and to inculcate voters against evidence of your own guilt.” -Saul Alinsky (communist), Rules for Radicals
In the darkness of demonic forces, there is a great light…Jesus the Christ & He will lead anyone who calls on Him back to peace. We are not in this world for long people. Our prayers should continually go up to God for the lost souls that surround us. Follow Jesus’ light…He is the only way to peace!
Crow is woke scum. BLM is nothing but racist haters.
And we all now know that George Floyd died of an overdose. Sadly, it is only misdirected hate that drives the lefts mentality.
Tax dollars are not supposed to be used for political partisan purposes, which this clearly is. Remember a small swath of cowardly McCain Chamber RINOs cause this in uniting with the Ds.
Get rid of Crow! There are so many thing to be proud of in this country. This is not one of them.