[WSMDiscuss] Chauvin Guilty on All Counts, Including Murder of George Floyd (Brett Wilkins, staff writer Common Dreams)

[Jai Sen]

Tuesday, April 20, 2021

The US in movement…, Resistance in movement…, Justice in movement…

[Here, a first report, minutes after the announcement.  A small step, and yet also – given what was and is involved – a giant one :

Chauvin Guilty on All Counts, Including Murder of George Floyd

One racial justice advocate said that there are "no victories today," for "justice would mean George Floyd is still with us."

Brett Wilkins, staff writer <https://www.commondreams.org/author/brett-wilkins-staff-writer>
Published on Tuesday, April 20, 2021

By Common Dreams <https://www.commondreams.org/>


Protesters march around downtown Minneapolis near the courthouse calling for justice for George Floyd after closing arguments in the Chauvin trial has ended on Monday, April 19, 2021 in Minneapolis, MN. (Photo: Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)



After deliberating for just over 10 hours, the jury in the trial of Derek Chauvin found the former Minneapolis police officer guilty for the murder of unarmed Black man George Floyd last May. 

Chauvin—who was charged with second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter—was found guilty on all counts. His sentencing is scheduled in eight weeks. 

In closing statements on Monday, prosecutor Steve Schleicher implored <https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/04/19/wasnt-policing-was-murder-prosecutors-tell-jury-closing-statement-chauvin-trial> the jury to use "common sense." 

"What you saw, you saw," he said. "This case is exactly what you thought when you saw it first, when you saw that video."

Schleicher added that Chuavin "had to know" that Floyd's life was in danger, yet continued pinning him to the street for over nine minutes "with the unyielding pavement beneath him, as unyielding as the men who held him down."

Civil rights advocates said that the verdict is but one step in the direction of racial justice. 



Just before the verdict was announced, the Oakland-based Ella Baker Center for Human Rights said in a statement that "a guilty verdict on its own will not deliver the kind of justice that will truly keep our communities safe."

"Since the Chauvin trial began on March 29, cops have killed an average of three people each day, and more than half of the victims are Black and Latinx," the group said. "Protestors marching in the wake of the deaths of Daunte Wright and Adam Toledo were met with police wielding assault rifles, teargas, and military-grade protective gear."

"The Chauvin trial has not stopped the now-familiar cycle of police committing harm, then responding to demands for justice with more violence," it added. "The conviction of Derek Chauvin will not prevent police violence."

In the hours before the verdict was announced, protesters outside the Hennepin County Courthouse in Minneapolis chanted "Black Lives Matter" and other slogans as some of the more than 3,000 National Guard troops deployed <https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/15/us/chauvin-trial-verdict-security.html> to the Twin Cities area stood by. 

The verdict came amid a wave of public outrage over the police killings of unarmed Black and Latinx men and boys, including Daunte Wright <https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/04/13/they-stole-my-sons-dad-families-daunte-wright-and-george-floyd-hold-emotional-press> in nearby Brooklyn Center, Minnesota and 13-year-old Adam Toledo <https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/04/15/footage-chicago-police-shooting-13-year-old-adam-toledo-fuels-outrage>, who had his hands raised in the air when he was shot by a Chicago police officer. 

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____________________________

Jai Sen

Independent researcher, editor; Senior Fellow at the School of International Development and Globalisation Studies at the University of Ottawa

jai.sen at cacim.net <mailto:jai.sen at cacim.net> &  <mailto:jsen at uottawa.ca>jsen at uottawa.ca <mailto:jsen at uottawa.ca>
Now based in Ottawa, Canada, on unsurrendered Anishinaabe territory (+1-613-282 2900) and in New Delhi, India (+91-98189 11325)

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