Yesterday, for the first time in over a year, I drove into Minneapolis. I was shocked as I drove through the Uptown area and saw store after store boarded up and National Guard humvees, troops and police cars parked along almost empty streets. (This was before the verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial was announced.) It was a reminder of the trauma and destruction that occurred in Minneapolis last year after Floyd was killed.
It was murder in the full light of day and it ripped the blinders off for the whole world to see.
— President Joe Biden
Shortly after I returned home I heard the verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial—guilty on all counts.
My whole body relaxed with
A Sigh of Relief
Finally, finally, what we all saw graphically on newscasts over the past year—the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer—was called murder by a jury. Though I know that I cannot fully understand the trauma that our nation’s BIPOC community has endured, I hope that this is a beginning of much needed change in policing and in our national consciousness. This verdict is not enough to restore justice but hopefully it is a start.
Today we feel a sigh of relief. Still, it cannot take away the pain. 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.
— Kamala Harris
When our vice president and president spoke last evening after the verdict was delivered I was relieved all over again. They waited until many local activists and the trial team had time to address the nation. Then they spoke of the changes that are still needed. All I could think was, it is such a relief to hear voices of sane, kind, and compassionate leaders of our country instead of self-serving self-centered lying bigoted self-righteousness.
True justice requires that we come to terms with the fact that Black Americans are treated differently, every day. It requires us to recognize that millions of our friends, family, and fellow citizens live in fear that their next encounter with law enforcement could be their last. And it requires us to do the sometimes thankless, often difficult, but always necessary work of making the America we know more like the America we believe in.
While today’s verdict may have been a necessary step on the road to progress, it was far from a sufficient one. We cannot rest. We will need to follow through with the concrete reforms that will reduce and ultimately eliminate racial bias in our criminal justice system. We will need to redouble efforts to expand economic opportunity for those communities that have been too long marginalized.
— Barak and Michelle Obama
I leave you today knowing that it is a long journey ahead to change the hearts and minds of all of us.
May you walk in beauty.
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