What to do after the verdict against Derek Chauvin

Crowds in Minneapolis are responding to the verdict

On May 25, 2020, a former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin pressed a knee to George Floyd’s neck until he died — and yesterday a jury found Chauvin guilty on three charges: second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree murder.

This is huge news because police officers have not been held accountable in the past for killing blacks, women and children. President Biden called it a “too rare” step to provide “basic responsibility” for Black Americans: “It was a murder in the full light of day and it tore the blinds to see the whole world.”

And one of the reasons people could see Floyd’s murder as clearly as it was because it was a 17-year-old at the time Darnella Frazier, who was walking for snacks with her nine-year-old cousin, stopped on the sidewalk and filmed everything. Tweets journalist Michele Norris“Can we all sing praises for Darnell Frazier who had enough mind to make that video that made such a change in this case and now has to live with the memories that will walk with her until the end of her years?”

When it comes to judgment, the word is important here ~~responsibility~~ guilt – not justice. It would be fair for George Floyd to be alive today, playing with his six-year-old daughter, and for the entire system to be changed to serve and protect everyone fairly in the United States.

“Although today’s verdict is a small gain for police accountability and can help heal the grieving community, the systems that enabled George to be killed – by tearing him away from the family and communities that loved him so much – remain completely intact,” he says. ACLU.

He agrees Representative of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: “That the family had to lose a son, a brother and a father; that a teenage girl must film and announce a murder, that millions across the country must organize and march just to be seen and appreciated by George Floyd is not justice. And this ruling is no substitute for a change of policy. ”

Then, yesterday afternoon, just as the jury found Derek Chauvin guilty of murder, a police officer fatally shot 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant in Columbus, Ohio. How crystal clear that is the system must change?

So, what can we do now? Call your senators on 202-499-6085 and tell them they have to pass George Floyd Justice in Police Law – FYI, you’ll probably leave voicemail at the end. (Full account is explained here.) Send waves of phone calls from this community asking for action. Will you call and then comment below?

And of course take care of yourself. We send so much love to our black readers and stand with you today and always. xo