George Floyd’s murder didn’t come as a shock to fellow Blacks.
But that his killer — a white police officer — was found guilty, did.
Waves of relief swept the country Tuesday at the news of the guilty verdict against former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.
Tears flowed. Shoulders relaxed. The powder keg of pent up anger, defused.
If history were a predictor, Chauvin would have walked free, such is the stain on the U.S. justice system for its failure to protect Blacks from overt racism, especially at the hands of law enforcement.
Even with the indisputable evidence from last May of Officer Chauvin pressing his knee against the neck of a handcuffed Mr. Floyd for 9 minutes and 29 seconds, Chauvin’s conviction was anything but certain.
After all, the police officers connected in the deaths of — please, say their names — Rodney King, 1991, Los Angeles, Eric Garner, 2014, New York City, Michael Brown, 2014, Ferguson, Mo., and Breonna Taylor, 2020, Louisville, as well as thousands of others, have all walked free.
Today, Blacks are 2.5 times more likely to be killed by a police officer than a white person.
“I would not call today’s verdict justice — because justice implies true restoration,” said Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison of Tuesday’s decision. “But it is accountability, which is the first step towards justice.”
Floyd’s family called it “painfully earned justice.”
WILL ONE ruling make a difference?
Only if we use it as a launch pad.
Critically, continued police and justice reforms must stay apace.
Individually, our charge is to ask if we’re working to make each other better.
Discrimination diminishes people, robbing them of their voices and talents. Violence rips apart the social fabric critical to a people and a community.
Worse, is the silence.
We’ve lacked the fortitude to challenge those in authority when they make the wrong calls.
Right before us are state legislatures restricting voting access and criminalizing the right to protest — all with the intent to silence minorities.
