April 2021 Blog: "The Day After the Verdict"

Today, the day Derek Chauvin was found guilty for the murder of George Floyd, many people are experiencing mixed emotions. My first reaction was deep relief – relief that friends and colleagues of color might experience some hope, solace, or healing. I wish I could proclaim that justice was served, but, as Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison put it, “I would not call today’s verdict ‘justice’, however, because justice implies true restoration. But it is accountability, which is the first step towards justice.”

Of course, I wanted to celebrate the verdict, and did for a few moments. But Ellison’s comments reenforced the reality that for George Floyd’s family, and all who identified with them, full restoration can never occur.  A loved one is dead - another Black American killed by the state. Vice President Harris acknowledged deeply mixed emotions; “Today, we feel a sigh of relief. Still, it cannot take away the pain.”

That pain, that loss, that trauma has weighed heavily on many of us, especially Black Americans, since the trial began on March 29th. Visceral anxiety ran through people of color more deeply than I can know. My colleague Yohuru Williams posted on Facebook yesterday: “I’m not sure I completely realized how deeply this case was affecting me. I can’t stop shaking right now, literally I can’t stop shaking— I don’t feel relief as much as grief because—in waiting for this trial to come and go—I have not been able to properly grieve. Seeing Chauvin taken away in handcuffs finally allowed me to grieve.”

President Biden acknowledged the “[p]rofound fear and trauma. The pain, the exhaustion that Black and brown Americans experience every single day…. It’s a trauma on top of the fear so many people of color live with every day, when they go to sleep at night and pray for the safety of themselves and their loved ones.”

These words from the President are important because they acknowledge the depth of the wounds inflicted. It gives space for anger over the systemic racism of our country. Look what it took to bring this small measure of accountability. What if seventeen-year-old Darnella Frazier had not videotaped the murder? What if activists didn’t take to the streets? What if few knew about what the President called, “a murder in the full light of day?” Would it have, as he continued, “ripped the blinders off for the whole world to see…systemic racism?” Would we admit that it is “a stain on our nation’s soul,” a “knee on the neck of justice for Black Americans?”
 
Had Floyd died in the darkness of night, with no video record made, little would have been done. After Emmett Till was murdered in 1955, Jet Magazine's publication of they boy's horrifically mutilated body fueled the civil rights movement. Yesterday Philonise Floyd referred to Till as “the first George Floyd.” How many more George Floyds will there be before the movement is complete? 

With the trial concluded and the anxious uncertainty eased, some exhaled and even celebrated on streets across the nation. But Rev. Al Sharpton framed the celebrations by saying, ““We don’t find pleasure in this…. We don’t celebrate a man going to jail. We would have rather George be alive. But we celebrate that we, because young people, White and Black, some castigated, many that are here tonight, marched and kept marching and kept going.”

So, we must keep on marching. Philadelphia justice activist Stephanie Keene is concerned that this verdict and the relief it offered might lead people back into complacency. She explained that “my bigger worry is that the general public will be like, ‘We let the system handle it and the system handled it, and now we can go to brunch.’”  But the system is all of us, and our work continues. This step toward justice will mean little if most of us just “go to brunch.”

Further Actions:

1) After the verdict was announced, Vice President Harris explained, “A measure of justice isn’t the same as equal justice. This verdict brings us a step closer, and the fact is we still have work to do. We still must reform the system.” The “we” she refers to is every American: "Here’s the truth about racial injustice. It's not just a Black America problem or a people of color problem. It is a problem for every American.” Part of the solution is to get the Senate to pass a comprehensive policing reform bill. Last month the U. S. House of Representatives passed H.R.1280, the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021. Contact your Senator and demand that get this legislation to the floor of the Senate. Demand that it be passed in honor of George Floyd, his family, the prosecution, and the activists who have worked tirelessly to keep this issue before the American public.

2) Work against systemic racism in all areas of society, as advocated for by Governor or Minnesota Tim Walz who yesterday – after the verdict – said that “[w]e must tackle racial inequities in every corner of society—from health to home ownership to education. We must come together around our common humanity.” Become a part of what Keith Ellison  called a “bouquet of humanity, old, young, men and women, black and white” who fought since George Floyd was killed to demand justice.

3) Speak out against the stereotypes of Black men used to dehumanize and target fellow human beings. Defense attorneys for Derek Chauvin used many such stereotypes, such as: (1) the idea that deadly force (a knee to the neck for 9 minutes) was necessary to restrain Floyd due to his brute strength; (2) that Floyd died to self-inflicted harm of drug use; (3) that Floyd died due to hypertension, which is chronically high for Black Americans; (4) that witnesses watching and video taping were a dangerous mob which threatened the officers, and so on.  See this Rolling Stone article for a deeper analysis.

Check out some earlier blog postings I wrote that touched on these stereotypes: Blog #26, Blog #28, and Blog #29.