We asked LIers: What has changed since the death of George Floyd? - Newsday

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This story was reported by Robert Brodsky, Denise M. Bonilla, Vera Chinese, Keldy Ortiz, Daysi Calavia-Robertson and Craig Schneider.

Nearly a year of street protests, calls for reform and a murder conviction in the death of George Floyd have many Long Islanders believing the country is at a reckoning over race and policing.

But some on the Island say they’ve seen little change where it counts: in their own neighborhoods. Others say police officers have gotten a bad rap, that the great majority are brave and honest stewards of the public.

A jury in Minneapolis convicted former city police Officer Derek Chauvin on Tuesday of second- and third-degree murder, as well as second-degree manslaughter. Floyd died May 25, 2020, after Chauvin held his knee on Floyd's neck for more than nine minutes. His death set off global protests and unrest after video showed another Black man being killed by a white police officer.

Newsday reporters fanned out across Long Island to ask people to define this moment in time. Here in New York, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has called for every municipality to submit plans for police reforms. Both Nassau and Suffolk have complied, and no further approval is needed on the state level, officials said.

Newsday reporters asked Islanders three questions:

• From your perspective, what has changed on Long Island in the year since the death of George Floyd?
• What has that change looked like in your life and your community?
• For you personally and in society at large, what change still needs to be achieved as we move forward?

Islanders’ responses were as intense as they were varied, revealing wide fault lines in people’s thinking. They also offered their views on how to create a path forward — toward healing, reconciliation and trust.

Brandy Scott, St. James

"The Blue Wall has been cracked," Scott said. She said she believes that, since Floyd's death, police departments have started to look inward, having decided that if an officer has not followed the rules, he or she must be held accountable.

People, too, are changing, she said.

"I believe people have become more aware of two things: They’re more aware of systemic racism. Also, there’s more understanding about the effects it has on ordinary people," Scott said.

Scott, who is president of the Long Island Black Educators Association, said she sees Long Island school districts looking more closely at the issues of diversity, equity and inclusion. She said several districts have asked her to speak to them on how to improve the recruitment of teachers of color.

Within the Island’s communities of color, she said she sees people becoming more vocal.

"A lot of the older residents in the community are more supportive of the young people when they’re picketing and demonstrating," she said.

Within her own community of St. James, which is mostly white, she said she’s seeing more "Black Lives Matter" signs.

But all that is just a start, she said.

"Will we be able to do the work that creates change in society?" Scott said. "Will people commit to allow equity? That means a lot of people must be willing to share."

Craig Schneider

Lois Beuhler, East Moriches

Beuhler said despite protests and the conversation surrounding race in America, she doesn’t think much has changed on Long Island in the 11 months since Floyd was killed.

"I did read the other day that the latest group of Suffolk County police was the most diverse," said Beuhler, who taught science at Bellport High School. "But you know, that's not saying much because, bless their hearts, it has been very, very white and very, very narrow."

Twenty-eight percent of the 104 recruits being trained at the Suffolk County police academy are minorities, police officials said. The second-most diverse class, which entered in 2016, was 22% minority.

Beuhler believes the guilty verdict in Chauvin’s trial sends a message that police brutality will no longer be tolerated.

"I was impressed that the police testified against Chauvin," she said. "There's so many good cops out there. And it must just kill them to have to cover for and make excuses for those who are bad."

Vera Chinese

Nakiya Jenkins, Wheatley Heights

Since Floyd’s death, people have shown both the good and bad sides of humanity, said Jenkins, a captain with the Wyandanch-Wheatley Height Ambulance Corp.

"We have seen people’s true colors come out, and it’s been more comfortable to express hatred toward one another," she said. "But I also feel, especially with the protests we had last summer, that people you wouldn’t expect have come together and created this unity and spoken out against racism and hatred."

Jenkins said she worries about how her four young nephews may be viewed by police and society.

"I have had to come to the realization that they may not be seen as innocent Black boys, that they may be seen as something else — and that’s scary," she said.

Jenkins said her nephews were confused and scared by the images they saw on TV. She realized "how bad it was" when the oldest nephew, who is 10, asked, "Why don’t they like Black people?"

"How do you explain that to a 10-year-old?" she said. Her parents, who she said are both in law enforcement, gave their perspective and explained that "it’s not everyone and that there are still really good people in this world."

Denise M. Bonilla

Terence Keith, Massapequa

'We need to wake up and realize what severely we’re doing as a society to humans not just us blue or red states or anything like that.'

Keith said he believes people have united since Floyd's death, but that more work needs to be done.

"It’s the people who actually make the change," he said. "Although there is some divide, there always will be divide. But I also see a lot of unity that came with the tragic death of George Floyd."

Keith said the divide in the United States needs to end. "Otherwise nothing is going to change," he said.

"Basically, we just need to have more acknowledgment of what’s going on today, and we need to wake up and realize what severely we’re doing as a society to humans not just us blue or red states or anything like that," he said. "We just need to come together and make things happen and stop arguing and dividing and come together as one."

Keldy Ortiz

Steve Bendes, Kings Park

'I would like to see more tolerance, but it’s not going to happen.'

After decades of civil unrest and countless instances of police brutality against Black Americans, Bendes hopes things will finally change.

He's hoping for greater tolerance between those of different races, religions and backgrounds, and from those who back the protests to those who fly the Blue Lives Matter flags. But he doubts it will happen.

"I would like to see more tolerance, but it’s not going to happen," Bendes said outside of the Stop & Shop in Smithtown. "I have a pessimistic view of man and human nature as a whole. I don’t think people are going to change. This country is split down the middle, 50-50."

Bendes, who believes the jury in the Chauvin case got it right, recalled recently reading a Newsday editorial from 25 years ago. The topic: police brutality and ongoing concerns about racial profiling on Long Island.

Absent social media and cellphone cameras, little else has changed in a quarter century, he said.

"It was an editorial that could have been written yesterday, and it was 25 years ago," Bendes said. "It’s the same issues. … Human nature being what it is, it’s not going to change, unfortunately."

Robert Brodsky

Luis Mendez, Westbury

For Mendez, the biggest take-away from Floyd's death and all that followed is an increased level of societal awareness about the pervasiveness of racism in the United States.

Floyd's death struck a chord with Mendez on a personal note on many levels, he said. His 2-year-old grandson is Black and Latino, and his last name happens to be Floyd.

"When I witnessed that 9 minutes and 29 seconds … I couldn't even fathom from a grandfather's perspective, what if my grandson was that person?" he said.

Méndez said he wants change. "That's what I think we all want," he said.

And what's the biggest change Floyd's killing has had on him? "The need to be a voice," he said. "The need to be more vocal on the practices of local police departments and how the system is stacked up against minorities."

Daysi Calavia-Robertson

Luanne Callaghan, Mattituck

'Maybe in the past we would have kind of just let it go.'

 

Callaghan said she believes the conversation surrounding Floyd’s death has made people more aware of what they say and how their acts impact others. On a visceral level, it’s also made people angry.

"I think this was just the culmination of a lot of years of mistreating human beings," said Callaghan, a retired special education teacher. She said she has always striven to treat her students equally regardless of their backgrounds.

Personally, she’s heard more disagreements among friends and family and said that people are less likely to drop an argument over the issues Floyd’s death raised.

"Maybe in the past we would have kind of just let it go," she said. "But I think everybody's so involved in this that they can't just say, 'OK,' or 'Whatever.' "

To move forward as a society, Callaghan believes people need to respect other people's views and decisions, and to simply be nicer to one another.

"I think we need to realize that we're all human beings, no matter what shape, size, color, ethnicity, religious belief," she said. "We only have one life. So, you know, why not just learn to get along?"

Vera Chinese

Aaron Johnson, West Babylon

'People are becoming more aware of the issues Black people regularly experience.'

Johnson, a Bay Shore High School teacher, is unsure whether Floyd’s death will bring "structural changes," but said it has caused change in the way people on Long Island and elsewhere talk about race.

"People are becoming more aware of the issues Black people regularly experience," he said.

Black people, Johnson said, always have had "these conversations" in their homes, barbershops and private circles, but now are feeling freer to discuss topics involving race in different spaces, including professional settings.

Companies are taking note and creating diversity, equity and inclusion roles to tackle workplace discrimination and inequality, he said.

You can’t legislate the heart, Johnson said. "But you can create laws and policies to normalize rightness ... the idea is empathy to action, empathy to equity," he said.

Johnson’s hope is to inspire his students, the next generation, and arm them with the tools to design a better world and better society.

"We live in one of the most segregated places in the country, he said. "So we still have a long way to go."

Daysi Calavia-Robertson

Samuel Seymore, Riverhead

Seymore, a Vietnam War veteran who grew up in Southampton, recalled one time receiving a fake bill from the bank many years ago and not realizing it was counterfeit until he tried to pay for something. His own innocent mistake underscored for him the injustice of Floyd’s death, he said. Floyd was being arrested for allegedly using a counterfeit bill to buy cigarettes.

Seymore said he hasn’t discussed Floyd much with friends and family, but that his death hurt him personally. What’s worse, he said, were the police officers who watched and did not try to intervene.

"If you see something wrong and you don't try to stop that, then you are as wrong as the person doing it," he said.

A religious man, Seymore said there's only one way for this country to heal.

"Our society needs to humble themselves to the Lord Jesus Christ, and live in a godly way," he said. "There’s no longer respect. It's not taught at home; they're not living it. There's no discipline anymore."

Vera Chinese

Tom Denobile, Commack

'I think everything is fine. ... I am tired of hearing Black Lives Matter.'

Denobile is no fan of the Black Lives Matter movement or the criticism of law enforcement across the country, especially on Long Island.

The retired electronics engineer contends last summer’s protests, particularly in Manhattan, Portland and Minnesota, were violent and out of control.

"I am disgusted with what this country has become," Denobile said. " … Looting, burning things at the whim. They are overreacting as far as I am concerned."

Denobile said relations between Black Americans and law enforcement require no immediate change. He criticized politicians who’ve urged police to "stand down" against protesters.

"I think everything is fine," he said. "I am tired of hearing Black Lives Matter. I am tired of [people] destroying our history and wokeism. … And defund the police? This is the most absurd thing I’ve ever heard in my life."

Though he supports law enforcement, he agrees the Chauvin decision was just.

"It was a fair verdict," he said.

Robert Brodsky

Nicole Jean Christian, Gordon Heights

'We are still operating under an extremely oppressive system of racism here on Long Island.'

Floyd’s murder has allowed for more open and honest conversations, but it was not a turning point, said Christian, who is the environmental justice chair for the Brookhaven NAACP.

"The death of George Floyd was not a watershed moment," she said. "It was a tragic and painful outgrowth of historical and systemic racism."

Christian said there are still problems in full view on Long Island, from housing redlining to the funding structure for schools, which "disproportionately damages the education of Black and brown children.

"We are still operating under an extremely oppressive system of racism here on Long Island," she added. "We’re still bearing the brunt."

There needs to be more discussions with corporations to increase diversity in management, as well as in higher education, she said.

Christian wants more white people in positions of influence to join the fight, and poses these questions to them: "What are you doing with your position of power, with your backpack of privileges? What are you doing to change the tone today?"

Christian said she worries about her brothers and nephews interacting with police and for her own safety. "I am scared every single day," she said.

Denise M. Bonilla

Jodi Kaplan, Port Washington

Kaplan is hopeful. The mother of three sees signs that the Chauvin conviction, combined with the momentum from last summer’s Black Lives Matter marches and protests, will create long-lasting change for Black Americans.

"We need to be really sure that people are not killed unjustly," Kaplan said. "The police, in particular, need to be held accountable. We need to get rid of anyone bad. They are making all the police look bad."

Port Washington, a North Shore town, always has had a progressive streak, and last summer was no different, as dozens of culturally diverse demonstrators marched down Main Street following Floyd’s death.

Kaplan’s three adult children, ages 21, 25 and 27, are active in the BLM movement on both Long Island and in Wisconsin, where her daughter lives.

While it’s too soon to know if relations between Black Americans and law enforcement will change, Kaplan said personally she feels more socially aware and knowledgeable of the issues.

"I am thrilled with the verdict," she said, "but we have a long way to go."

Robert Brodsky

E. James Freeman, Gordon Heights

Floyd’s death has inspired a new generation to take action, said Freeman, who runs a nonprofit and is president of the Gordon Heights Civic Association.

"You have a new group of youth who are being energized to take up the baton," he said.

While an important moment, Freeman hopes people put the Chauvin conviction in perspective.

"Historically, when there’s been any type of social injustice of this magnitude, when you have 100 cases, you’re going to have to let one, two or three [cases] where there is a conviction, in order to take off the pressure from those individuals pushing for social change," he said.

Freeman said he has been working more with young people, educating them about their rights and pushing them to be "more responsible for what happens in their communities and in their schools and in their homes."

"With the attention that’s been on this now, there’s been attention on the injustices for the last 400, 500 years, and we’re just starting to see a new wave of changes where people of color are actually being identified as human beings," he said.

Denise M. Bonilla

Elizabeth Mercado, Brentwood

'We’re going to have to join together to dismantle the system of oppression.'

People became more unified in the aftermath of Floyd’s murder, Mercado said. In Brentwood, younger people started to become activists, and it inspired others, she said.

"I’ve seen a lot more people who had left it to other people to stand up and fight, who actually got up and took action on their own," she said. "I think that was motivating for the younger generation and for the older generation, who had maybe become a little more complacent."

As part of her work as a representative for the Communications Workers of America union, Mercado has been promoting new training on diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

But, she said, more change is needed.

"Ultimately, the pathway to a just society for everyone is going to have to be deep structural change," she said. "We’re going to have to join together to dismantle the system of oppression. We’re going to have to educate and move together. In order to move forward, it’s not just going to be a guilty verdict on one person, it’s got to be a continuous fight."

Denise M. Bonilla

Akash Mathew, Merrick

Mathew said he believes Floyd's death has started a conversation about people’s rights.

"I’m so deeply sorry for his family, but the revolution that took place really gave us some power to talk about the things that we just completely ignored for so long, that we just thought was normal," Mathew said. "It’s not normal. It’s not normal to oppress a person to suppress somebody of their rights."

Personally, Mathew said, he believes people will no longer be "silenced" following Floyd’s death and that those in power will be held responsible.

"That is the new change that I believe we’re seeing going forward … that no matter the color of your skin, you are going to be held accountable for your actions," he said.

Moving forward, Mathew said people in power need to see things from the ground up instead of enforcing rules from the top.

"I want to see the community here just hold hands together and allow the people to see that the powers [are] really at the bottom," he said. "It’s like a pyramid where without the bottom, there is no top and you turn the pyramid upside down, it’s not a stable environment."

Keldy Ortiz

Edna White, Riverhead

'I’m very nervous going out and seeing police officers and engaging with them.'

When White saw the Floyd video, she immediately thought of her son who is incarcerated.

"When that happened, I just saw my son’s face and it went all through me," she said. "It was devastating. I thought how does [Chauvin] think he has the right, as a human, to do this to somebody? Someone had to have given him that thought that he had that power."

White, who works for the Long Island Coalition for the Homeless, said she sees things changing on the surface, but isn’t convinced there’s been internal change.

"I want things to change. I really hope it changes," she said. "I see things happening, but I don’t want it to just be of the moment. I want it to be something that continues."

White said she cried, then sighed, when she heard the verdict.

"It was almost like a sigh to say, we have a chance, a chance to open other doors," she said.

White said she always has been on high alert when interacting with police officers she does not know. Since Floyd’s death, she said she’s been even more concerned.

"Am I going to be ripped from my car?" she said. "I’m very nervous going out and seeing police officers and engaging with them."

Denise M. Bonilla

Natalie Amaya, Huntington Station

'It breaks my heart because it shouldn’t be that way.'

Amaya said several people dining at the ramen restaurant where she works have made "blatantly racist and disgusting" remarks about Floyd.

"They’ve said he deserved it, he was drugged up, or that the arrest was a legal arrest," she said. "Just attacking his character rather than the police officer’s actions ... ."

Amaya said she can’t reconcile how someone "can watch someone’s death on video and come out of it thinking he deserved it."

If Amaya were to find herself in a situation similar to the one that led to Floyd’s death, she said she would step in.

"I’d put myself in the middle," she said. "I think for a lot of people, it’s reaching that awareness and making a conscious choice of … just because a problem doesn’t affect me doesn’t mean it’s not a problem."

Daysi Calavia-Robertson

By Newsday Staff

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