President Joe Biden spoke to the nation late Tuesday in the wake of a guilty verdict for ex-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, delivering somber and hopeful remarks with Vice President Kamala Harris at his side.
The president called the verdict "just basic accountability."
"It was a murder in the full light of day and it ripped the blinders off for the whole world to see…systemic racism," the president said, describing the harrowing nine-minute video of George Floyd's death at Chauvin's knee that circulated worldwide last summer. The clip and subsequent reaction on both sides of the aisle led to widespread protests, both at home and abroad.
"Today’s verdict was a step forward," Biden added.
As was reported earlier Tuesday, Biden confirmed he spoke with Floyd’s family about the continued fight in Washington, D.C. to pass the George Floyd Justice In Policing Act, among other comforts in the moments after the highly-anticipated verdict.
He said he also spoke with Floyd’s young daughter.
Biden continued: "(Floyd's death led to) protests that unified people of every race and generation of peace and with purpose to say enough, enough, enough of these senseless killings."
"This could be a giant step forward in the march toward justice in America," the president said.
Biden also pointed to similar trials that came before this one, many of which ended with vastly different results. "For so many people, it seems like it took a unique and extraordinary convergence of factors," he said.
The first-term Democrat continued, discussing a possible path forward.
"This takes acknowledging and confronting, head on, systemic racism and the racial disparities that exist in policing and in our criminal justice system more broadly. State and local government and law enforcement needs to step up, but so does the federal government," Biden said of his appointments to the U.S. Justice Department.
"We have a chance to begin to change the trajectory in this country. That’s my hope and prayer," the president concluded.
Harris, the first Black and Asian woman to ascend to the nation’s second highest office, spoke before Biden. "We are all a part of George Floyd’s legacy and our job now is to honor it and to honor him," the vice president said.
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