Derek Chauvin was held accountable for killing George Floyd on Tuesday, but that doesn't mean America's justice system isn't broken.
On Tuesday evening, Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer who kneeled on Floyd's neck for more than nine minutes in May 2020, was found guilty of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter.
The unanimous verdict was delivered to the nation after a jury of 12 people deliberated for more than 10 hours. Viewers at home and people in the streets of Minneapolis breathed a collective sigh of relief upon hearing the verdict. While many celebrated the long-awaited decision, it was clear for activists that injustice endures, police brutality persists, and no verdict could reverse Floyd's murder. In addition, the uncertainty leading up to the verdict had become yet another source of pain for the Black community stuck in a seemingly endless cycle of mourning, activists noted online.
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Politicians including Cory Booker, Elizabeth Warren, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and former president Barack Obama were quick to tweet statements in support of the verdict and Floyd's family. However, they stressed that this verdict was but a single step in making sure, as Obama stated, every American gets the justice they deserve. Chauvin is the first white police officer in Minnesota to be convicted for murdering a Black person.
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The efforts, protests, and calls for justice that preceded this verdict were massive and emotionally taxing, journalists and activists tweeted.
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Notably, legal analysts have spotlighted the state attorney general's role in the trial, and questioned whether the outcome would be the same if the local district attorney's office had led the case (district attorneys tend to have deeper ties to local police). According to the New York Times, "The facts laid out in the D.A.’s complaint were much more favorable to Chauvin than the attorney general’s case."
During a press conference after the verdict was read, Rev. Al Sharpton, standing alongside Floyd's family members and their attorneys, said, "We don't celebrate a man going to jail. We'd rather George be alive." In just a few days, he added, the funeral of Daunte Wright will take place. The 20-year-old Black man was killed by a police officer during a traffic stop just 10 miles from the courthouse where Chauvin stood trial.
"We still have cases to fight, but this gives us the energy to fight on," he said.
Police killings are a mental health crisis for Black people, according to a new study published Monday.
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"Until we have a world where our communities can thrive free from fear, there will be no justice," the Black Lives Matter organization tweeted.
UPDATE: April 20, 2021, 6:17 p.m. PDT This post was updated to add more reactions and details.
Topics Activism Social Good
