I was busy at work when my sister texted me saying that the jury had finished deliberating and the verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial was getting ready to be read. I immediately became distracted and anxious. In my head, I was already imagining what would happen to my city and cities all around the United States if the verdict came back not guilty. I was wondering how I would continue to hope if a certain group of 12 people didn’t see what was obviously right in front of their eyes. And then my sister texted me again. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. All three counts. I released my breath I didn’t know I was holding and exhaled a deep sigh of relief.
As I felt tears begin to form in my eyes, my thoughts immediately went to Darnella Frazier, the 17-year-old who was taking her 9-year-old cousin to the store for some snacks and saw something that didn’t seem right and began recording what she was seeing on her cellular phone. At that moment, I was so grateful for her and in such awe of her initiative to begin recording. What was it in her that told her to stop what she was doing and begin recording? And what was she now feeling? The young lady in court admitted to feeling guilty but was really the hero in this whole story. Because we know this story would not have become public if not for Darnella Frazier’s video. The official public release from the police department upon George Floyd’s death stated, “Man Dies After Medical Incident During Police Interaction”. This, just like in so many other incidents where police killed Black people, is usually reported as a medical incident or the victim didn’t do something or was thought to have some sort of weapon.
But this case was different. It was like all the stars aligned to ensure the right outcome would happen. Not only was there a video, but when it happened, the world was in the midst of a global pandemic. We were all isolated at home and could do nothing but see the video over and over. We saw everything with our own eyes and couldn’t deny what we were watching. Then, during the trial, other police officers testified against Chauvin. That hardly ever happens. And even with all of that, many of us were afraid to hope that the outcome would be any different than what we had seen so many times before. Our sigh of relief at the guilty verdict is a window into how often the justice system has failed people of color.
To some, the reactions of people after the verdict may have seemed extreme. People crying and hugging each other. Some, so overcome with emotion, just fell to their knees and sobbed. For years, Black people have been stopped, profiled, harassed, and killed by police officers. And although we have continually shared that we felt we were under attack, it all too often fell on deaf ears. The guilty verdict, in this case, felt like we had been heard. For once. We were seen. And that feeling – that emotion was a release of having finally been seen and heard. It was our big sigh of relief.
All too often justice isn’t served. Even while the trial was going on, there were multiple cases of police shooting and killing Black men. Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old man was fatally shot by a 26-year veteran police officer who confused her taser with her gun. And ironically, a Black teenager was reportedly fatally shot by a police officer in Ohio around the same time Derek Chauvin was convicted of murdering George Floyd. Police reform still needs to happen. Dr. Jason Johnson, an associate professor at Morgan State University and a political scientist spoke after the guilty verdict and said, “What this says to me is that in order to get a nominal degree of justice in this country, that a Black man has to be murdered on air, viewed by the entire world, there have to be a year’s worth of protests and a phalanx of other white police officers to tell one white officer that he was wrong, in order to get one scintilla of justice. That doesn’t make me feel happy. That doesn’t make me feel satisfied. It makes me worry about what’s going to happen when these other officers are held on trial. It makes me upset all the more that we didn’t have this for Breonna Taylor…So no, this is not the system working. This is a wake-up call. This is the justice system trying to say, “Hey this is one bad apple”. That’s how this is going to be interpreted…And yet there are still going to be young black men and women across this country being shot, today, tomorrow, and two weeks from now. Because unless we have some radical reform, there’s no lesson learned.”
The lesson is this is one verdict. Former President Obama stated in part, “We know that true justice is about much more than a single verdict in a single trial.” There is still so much work to do. I will remain hopeful that this verdict is the first step in bringing change that matters. And each of us has a role to play. We can have the courage of Darnella Frazier that when we see something, we do something. You never know how the smallest, most inconsequential thing can turn into a moment in history.
In the end, I’m not sure there are any real winners. George Floyd is still deceased and not able to watch his daughter grow into a beautiful woman. And Derek Chauvin will no doubt spend a good portion of his remaining life in prison away from his family. And in my opinion, justice hasn’t been served…yet. This verdict tells me that a man in a blue uniform was finally held accountable for his actions. But true justice will not be served until there is systemic change in our local, state, and federal laws and Black men and women don’t have to fear for their lives whenever they encounter a police officer. This is why people are still protesting and marching.
Justice will be served when there are no more Daunte Wright. George Floyd. Trayvon Martin. Tamir Rice. Michael Brown. Eric Garner. Philando Castile. Breonna Taylor. Rayshard Brooks. Daniel Prude. Atatiana Jefferson. Aura Rosser. Stephon Clark. Botham Jean. Alton Sterling. Freddie Gray. Janisha Fonville. Michelle Cusseaux. Akai Gurley. Gabriella Nevarez. Tanisha Anderson. And so many more.