NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Mayor Bill de Blasio, Congressman Ritchie Torres and more politicians on Tuesday released statements praising a Minneapolis court for finding former Police Officer Derek Chauvin guilty of all charges in the death of George Floyd.
Cuomo, in a statement, called the verdict “a powerful statement of accountability.”
“George Floyd's family and his loved ones got well-deserved closure, and all of us who deeply and personally felt his loss gained hope in the possibility of progress,” the governor said. “But while I'm grateful that the jury returned these verdicts, accountability is not the same as justice. It doesn't make an unacceptable situation acceptable, and it doesn't bring Gianna's dad back. But it must fuel our continued march towards equity.”
Meanwhile, New York City mayoral candidate Maya Wiley spoke to WCBS 880 anchor Lynda Lopez saying the first thing she thought when she heard the guilty verdict was: "At last!"
"Finally, we get the opportunity to actually see justice done, a little bit of justice for George Floyd that he did not get in life," Wiley said. "But, we've got work to do to continue to change the world to create social justice in addition to legal justice."
WCBS 880’s Peter Haskell also spoke with Bronx Congressman Ritchie Torres who praised the jury and their verdict.
“Justice is served,” he said. “The Achilles heel of American policing is the absence of accountability. Officers are rarely prosecuted or punished for abusing their power. And the conviction of Derek Chauvin is a rare moment of accountability in the criminal justice system. So, I felt an overwhelming sense of relief. It was self-evident to everyone that he was guilty. There was no excuse for kneeling on someone's chest, someone's neck for 10 minutes. It was an egregious abuse of power. It demonstrated a careless disregard for human life, for Black life in particular. And the criminal justice system rightly held him accountable.”
He says that while he is grateful for the verdict, he questions whether or not this would have been the outcome had there not been video footage of Floyd’s death.
“I wonder at some level is if there had never been video footage, if there had never been a public outcry, would he have been held accountable? And that to me is a question mark,” Torres said. “I'm grateful for the outcome, but we have a distance to travel before achieving accountable and transparent policing in America.”
Former New York Gov. David Paterson spoke with WCBS 880’s Haskell on Tuesday saying he wished that New York State could have provided similar justice to the family of Eric Garner, following his 2014 chokehold death.
“I wish New York State could have done for Eric Garner and his family what was done for George Floyd and his family in Minneapolis. But I have listened over the years to people like Dr. Martin Luther King, who have said that if you can't be positive about any kind of struggle, then you're not doing service to the struggle,” Paterson said. “This was the verdict that I think the majority of law enforcement itself thought was coming because it was right. And it was a verdict that hopefully will help to heal the family. And it was a verdict that will hopefully let America go back to what we were doing before Memorial Day of 2020.”
Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League, spoke with WCBS 880 shortly after the verdict was announced and said he was proud of the work that brought us to this moment. However, the work is not truly done until Chauvin is sentenced.
“The jury did the right thing. I think people were surprised at how swift and how decisive the verdict was,” said Morial. “This was a powerful day in American history here. I think America tasted justice in one of these cases for the first time in a long time… I think it's significant that the public outrage – the movement of people in the streets, the awakening in America’s boardrooms, university campuses and neighborhoods over the last year meant that we were at a moment where people were insisting in this case on justice and insisting that that Derek Chauvin be held accountable. And he has been held accountable. Now we'll have to wait eight weeks to see how he is sentenced and we think he should be sentenced in a fashion that sends a powerful message that the police misconduct is not gonna be tolerated and murdering an unarmed black man is not going to be tolerated in this country anymore.”
Floyd’s death in Minneapolis sparked outrage throughout the country and throughout the world in early last summer. Protests began occurring nearly daily in New York City and other cities as demonstrators demanded accountability.
On Tuesday, Mayor Bill de Blasio said after months of waiting, “justice was served.”
“In June we watched in horror as Derek Chauvin took the life of George Floyd. The reality of racism in this nation finally hit a boiling point, the pain of more than 400 years of injustice. Today, justice was served,” the mayor said. “Make no mistake, today’s verdict is not the end. This is the beginning, as we continue to create real reforms in policing and make a safer country for all Americans. I urge peace and calm tonight as we begin the work of achieving further progress.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer noted that the guilty verdict “doesn’t mean the persistent problem of police misconduct is solved.” However, he said he hopes the trial brings Floyd’s family comfort.
“I'm thankful for George Floyd’s family that justice was served,” Schumer said. “America was forever changed by the video of Derek Chauvin killing George Floyd.”
In New Jersey – which also saw a number of protests in the aftermath of Floyd’s death – Gov. Phil Murphy said Floyd should still “be alive today.”
“George Floyd, like countless other Black Americans whose futures have been unjustly stolen from them, should be alive today. While today's verdict provides some measure of justice and accountability for the Floyd family and millions of our fellow Americans, all of us must remember that systemic racism is still pervasive in American life,” Murphy said. “While we are glad that justice has prevailed in this case, George Floyd’s murder is a painful reminder that inequality has deep roots in American history, starting during slavery and continuing to the present day in areas such as wages, health care, housing, education, and treatment by law enforcement. This has been a trying moment in our nation’s history, but we must be resolute in our fight for justice to ensure that the pain of yesterday, and the pain of today, does not become the pain of tomorrow.”
Other politicians who reacted to the news publicly included New York City mayoral candidate Andrew Yang, New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal, Nassau County Executive Laura Curran, New York Congressman Mondaire Jones and more.
Demonstrations praising the verdict are expected to continue in New York City and across the nation throughout the evening.
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