While the family of George Floyd, supporters and civil rights activists celebrated a Minneapolis jury’s decision to convict Derek Chauvin of murder and manslaughter, they insist it’s only a small step toward progress in an unjust policing system.
The announcement of the guilty verdict has renewed calls for police reform, placing increasing pressure on Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act and for police agencies to reexamine the use of force policies. People of color, activists say, are still being profiled, brutalized and killed by police officers every day. Some were fatally shot by police even as the Chauvin trial went on, including teenagers Adam Toledo in Chicago and Ma’Khia Bryant in Columbus, Ohio. Another,20-year-old Daunte Wright, was killed in a Minneapolis suburb just 10 miles from where Floyd died nearly a year ago. On Wednesday, Andrew Brown Jr.,40, was fatally shot by police serving a search warrant in the North Carolina city of Elizabeth City. The deaths have fueled more protests across the country signaling that the racial reckoning sparked by Floyd’s death is far from over. Civil rights leaders say the outcome of the Chauvin trial was historic but vowed to continue their fight to end police violence in Black and brown communities. They also say they must continue advocating for the growing list of families that still await justice after losing their loved one at the hands of the police. “This trial is (police) accountability and I think accountability is important,” said Rashad Robinson, president of Color of Change. “But 12 jurors can’t actually deliver justice for Black people. It’s going to take millions of people working to undo the incentive structures that allow for violent policing to continue.” A system ‘built against us’ Floyd’s family and their attorneys on Tuesday expressed relief that Chauvin was convicted of unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. But in the same speech, they urged federal lawmakers to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act so that police can be held accountable and more families don’t face the same grief they have suffered for the last year. The bill would overhaul qualified immunity laws for law enforcement, ban racial and religious profiling by law enforcement, prohibit no-knock warrants in federal drug cases and establish a national registry of police misconduct maintained by the Department of Justice.
