The guilty verdict in the Derek Chauvin case came after a three-week trial during which the jury had to watch harrowing footage and hear distressing testimony of the last moments of George Floyd's life.
Reaction to the verdict in the Chauvin trial
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Former President Barack Obama: Today, a jury in Minneapolis did the right thing. For almost a year, George Floyd s death under the knee of a police officer has reverberated around the world inspiring murals and marches, sparking conversations in living rooms and new legislation. But a more basic question has always remained: would justice be done? In this case, at least, we have our answer. But if we re being honest with ourselves, we know that true justice is about much more than a single verdict in a single trial. 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
CHARGES AND MAX SENTENCE:
3rd Degree Murder (25 yrs)
2nd Degree Manslaughter(10 yrs). Sen. Robert Peters…
State Senator Robert Peters (D-Chicago) released the following statement after a Minnesota jury found former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin guilty of the 2020 murder of George Floyd:
“Today, a jury decided that Derek Chauvin will be locked up and will face justice for murdering George Floyd, but we are still a long way from delivering George and his family the justice they truly deserve.
“True justice would be creating a society where police don’t murder unarmed Black people.
“True justice would be ensuring people like George Floyd receive the support they need.
Biden After Verdict: Systemic Racism is a Stain on Our Nation s Soul By Michael W. Chapman | April 21, 2021 | 10:59am EDT
President joe Biden. (Getty Images)
(CNS News) Following the jury s verdict in the George Floyd case, which found former police officer Derek Chauvin guilty of Floyd s murder, President Joe Biden said the death of Floyd ripped the blinders off for the whole world to see the systemic racism that is a stain on our nation s soul. It was a murder in the full light of day, and it ripped the blinders off for the whole world to see the systemic racism the Vice President just referred to the systemic racism that is a stain on our nation’s soul, said Biden, the knee on the neck of justice for Black Americans; the profound fear and trauma, the pain, the exhaustion that Black and brown Americans experience every single day.
Patrick “P.T.” Ngwolo, an elder at the inner-city Christian mission Resurrection Houston, may have put it best when he said Mr. Floyd, who stood somewhere between 6 feet, 4 inches and 6 feet, 7 inches was “larger than life.”
“Mr. Floyd was a person who was what we call in the neighborhood an OG, somebody who had been through the wars, who had made the mistakes and who was able to go back to a generation and say, ‘Hey, guys, this is the way you ought to move, this is how you ought to do it,’” Mr. Ngwolo told Fox News.
He said Floyd used his status as an “OG,” or “original gangster,” to help the church make inroads in the Cuney Homes public housing complex, also known as “the Bricks,” by reaching out to neighbors, participating in basketball tournaments and setting up chairs and tables for services every fifth Sunday.