Verdicts are never certain; and even though our eyes and hearts may have convinced us that Geroge Floyd was murdered by arresting Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in the widely distributed video used as evidence in court, we did not know if our sense of justice would match the jury’s interpretation of the evidence. To the surprise of millions of Americans - it did!
Ex-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty on all three counts and was immediately taken into custody yesterday afternoon following the reading of the verdict. After hearing the guilty verdict read aloud in the courtroom, I wondered if Derek Chauvin felt any remorse for the man he killed when he was handcuffed with his hands behind him - just like he had handcuffed George Floyd.
The unanimous guilty verdict by a jury in a county that is 80% white was a shot in the battle for police accountability heard around the world. News of the guilty verdict spread joy and jubilation through those that had gathered near the spot where Floyd took his last breath, and a celebration took the place of unrest. That was a signature moment that cannot go unnoticed.
Maybe this is a turning point because of the nature of George Floyd’s death. The many different angles of the murder in progress showed a helpless man who was struggling to breath and expressed that to the police officer nearly 30 times while the officer’s knee and weight continued to cut of the vital supply of air to George Floyd’s body.
A big man who had run-ins with the law and was reduced to calling for his mother as his life slipped away. Regardless of the confidence we gain through life - in the end when all of our control is voided and we sense death - it is reasonable to think that in even a tough man’s inner core there would be a cry out to the person that took care of you when you first came into this world.
The degree of inhumanity in the death of George Floyd may have allowed White America to be more empathetic of the black suspect who was not an ideal citizen. The idea that a greater portion of the white population bonded with the case against a white police officer may be a breakthrough moment in better understanding what Black America has been telling White America for from the beginning.
It has been our collective failure to listen and understand the other side that had led us to a stalemate over race relations. And the need to listen and understand goes both ways. Black Americans feel like they are not really heard, and many White Americans feel the same way.
There is at least a glimmer of hope that the name of George Floyd will be remembered for a historic milestone in America doing a better job of coming together. Sentiment seems to suggest that this could be a tipping point when the dialogue to a more honest conversation about race becomes part of America.
The celebratory attitude that replaced violence and looting robbed those who promote the myth that Democrats intrinsically support violent reactions from continuing their misguided and hateful campaign. The celebration that whipped across the country gave a sense of a new chapter opening in the continuing fight for equality in America. However, this moment cannot die. This moment is only the launching pad for another step toward racial equality in America. But actual change lies in our hands.
WE - the people - must take the energy of this moment and turn it into something significant. No longer can we sit back and voice the same stale rhetoric. WE - the people - have the opportunity and the power to change. And if we don’t - it will not be fair to blame the politicians or the media - it’s time to look in the mirror and decide how many of us are willing to stand up and aggressively reignite the fight for racial equality in America.
Equality does not mean anyone is losing rights. It means those who have been denied are gaining rights. America has not always lived up to its admired foundation of everyone deserves equal treatment and equal justice under the waving of American flag.
