On April 21st, 2021, a 12-member jury convicted former police officer Derek Chauvin for the 2020 murder of George Floyd. It was a unanimous verdict for 2nd and 3rd degree murder and 2nd degree manslaughter.
The trial was televised for the world to see. Cities braced for possible violence depending on the verdict.
But it should not have been like this.
We should not have been sitting on the edge of our seats wondering *if* the jury would convict this disgraceful former officer who stained the badge he once wore. This was a blatant case of murder, in the middle of the day, with eyewitnesses around them, and captured on cellphone video and later posted online for the world to witness. This was not like the Zapruder film of President Kennedy’s assassination, with conflicting eyewitnesses and shaky coverage. It was nine minutes of a man being slowly and deliberately murdered by a police officer, who knelt casually on the neck of his victim, with his sunglasses on the top of his head, and no fear or worry whatsoever as witnesses were forced to watch, unable to do anything to stop the murder from going through.
We should not have had to worry about whether he would be arrested, never mind convicted. It was as blatant as the Saigon Execution of 1968. George Floyd was restrained, prone on the street, unable to resist or to stop what was happening. Even Chauvin’s own superiors in the police force said what he did was wrong!
I understand that attorneys for the convicted murder Chauvin had to question everything. That’s their job. They had to throw doubt and try to convince the jury to ignore what they saw and heard. And they threw everything but the kitchen sink at the prosecution, no matter how asinine or unbelievable.
But what disgusted this commentator was how many people and how many media networks bought into the defense arguments, in defiance of the video, in denial of the eyewitnesses who were there, in denial of the medical examiner who examined Floyd’s body without being prejudiced by the video, in denial of the disgraced officer’s own superiors on the stand, in denial of everything broadcast for the world to see, and to proclaim the convicted murderer innocent and to say that George Floyd died of anything and everything other than Derek Chauvin’s knee on his neck slowly strangling him. Their siding of a blatant lie in defiance of all evidence, both circumstantial and direct, is what draws this commentator’s ire and condemnation.
They should be ashamed, but we know those people have no shame. Many of those folks have been spreading lies and big lies for quite some time. What’s one more whopper of a lie to them?
Even the police department that would later condemn Chauvin’s actions had initially fabricated a story of Floyd dying from a “medical distress” instead of what the eyewitnesses and a teenage girl’s cellphone saw. And if not for that teenager posting that video to social media, that is precisely how George Floyd’s nine-minute murder would have been dismissed as... a “medical distress during a police interaction”.
It should not be like this.
Derek Chauvin should not have been a police officer. The numerous complaints made about him, many of which involved neckholds and accusations of choking, should have resulted in him being removed long before his fateful and final encounter with George Floyd. But he wasn’t reprimanded. He wasn’t even fired until the cellphone video of him murdering George Floyd was released. That is the failure of the city and specifically of the police department, which is why they settled with Floyd’s family.
Now I know people are saying justice is finally being served, but let’s get brutally honest here... it’s not. At least not yet. Disgraced and abusive ex-cop Derek Chauvin was found guilty of murder and manslaughter, but, as of this column, justice has not yet been served. He still faces sentencing. Just because Chauvin faces up to forty years in prison, that doesn’t mean he’ll be sentenced for forty years. Plus you know that the case, his conviction, and the sentencing will be appealed. Too many fascist supporters of police at all costs will demand his conviction be overturned; selling yet another big lie that Chauvin was “sacrificed” for the supposed fear of riots.
Let’s not also forget his accomplices, the other officers that were there with him and helped him carry out the slow murder of George Floyd, still have to face their days in court. Chauvin was the clear murderer, but time will tell if his accomplices will also be convicted, never mind spend time behind bars.
I also disagree with those that suggest that Chauvin’s conviction is in any way a turning point in resolving systemic racism. This is but one conviction in one case. A conviction that can still be overturned. The only way it can be a turning point is if there are other convictions in similar cases. If abusive and racist officers and their enablers are actually held to account from this point on. If the number of police killings of unarmed people come to an end instead of escalating, as they have been doing since George Floyd’s murder, then we can say Chauvin’s conviction was a turning point. We are clearly far from that point.
Yes, we should be relieved that an abusive and disgraceful former police officer was convicted for the blatant slow murder of George Floyd. The justice system worked... this time. But what about the next case? What about the next Derek Chauvin casually killing the next George Floyd?
It really should not be like this. Not at all.
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