The Derek Chauvin Trial
For many Black Americans anxiety surrounded the Derek Chauvin trial. The former police officer was charged with killing George Floyd, who died after Chauvin pinned Floyd’s neck by the knee for more than nine minutes while onlookers begged the officer to stop and Floyd cried out for his mother. Our nation and most specifically the Black community have rarely seen white male officers held accountable for killing black people. So there was apprehension, fear, and anger that no matter how indisputable the charges and the evidence, our fractured criminal justice system would falter. Chauvin’s guilty conviction was simultaneously obvious but surprising, since it was the first-ever prosecution in Minnesota history of a white police officer for the killing of a Black civilian.
Discussion:
- The call for justice came at monumental cost, that this nation will need to begin rectifying through actions that enforce accountability for the humanity of ALL people.
- Chauvin’s guilty verdict only proves that this country is still able to find a pulse. It does not mend the decades of damages inflicted on the Black community at the hands of law enforcement. True healing comes with legislation that protects our communities, breeds safety and trust, and holds law enforcement to a higher standard.
- The community’s relationship with Police Departments across the country are fractured largely because of a lack of trust and a lack of accountability. This must be changed immediately.
- The obituaries of countless victims like George Floyd, Philando Castile, Breonna Taylor and now Daunte Wright are written day after day. Our country has been relegated to no longer allowing a victim to Rest In Peace, but smearing their lives and memories as methods of the rationalizing deaths of expendable people. Enough is Enough!
Top Lines:
- More than 100 unarmed people have been killed or brutalized by police since George Floyd was murdered last summer.
- The trial of Derek Chauvin for killing George Floyd serves as a reminder of the urgent need to pass legislation to hold police accountable, change the culture of law enforcement and build trust between law enforcement and our communities by preventing police brutality and allowing survivors and families of victim’s access to justice.
- Congress must act as a first step to addressing the ongoing issue of police brutality at the federal level by ending qualified immunity and enacting a federal database so we have transparency with the law enforcement that serves our community.
Accountability: A badge is never a shield for accountability.
- Officers who kill or brutalize people should be prosecuted and convicted.
- There are significant hurdles to prosecuting officers for unconstitutional acts. Current law requires evidence that an officer intended to kill someone. The standard should instead call for prosecution when an officer is reckless and kills or brutalizes someone.
- Whether Derek Chauvin meant to kill George Floyd should not be the standard in a courtroom. George Floyd is dead at the hands of officers sworn to serve the public and enforce the law. Those responsible must be held accountable to send the message that we as a society will not tolerate police recklessness and abuse of authority.
- We need to make it easier for the federal government to successfully prosecute police misconduct cases and curb racial and religious profiling.
Transparency: The public deserves to know if officers are corrupt, dangerous, and/or abusive.
- We must prevent dangerous officers from moving from one department to another to avoid accountability by establishing a national database of civilian police encounters, including the use of force and traffic stops, and require the collection, analysis and release of such data to track and hold bad officers accountable.
- Prevent bad officers from being hired anywhere else by creating a national database of abusive, racist, violent and/or corrupt officers so communities can see who they are.
- Inform the public about an officer’s history of disciplinary action by recording it in an accessible database.
Humanity: Our very right to breathe is on trial.
- The call for justice comes at a monumental cost, that this nation will need to start paying back immediately through legislation that enforces accountability of law enforcement.
- The obituaries of countless victims, like George Floyd, Philando Castile, Breonna Taylor, and now Daunte Wright, are written daily. Our country has become used to denying a victim a Rest In Peace, instead rationalizing their deaths as excusable and expendable. Enough is Enough!
- What we’ve all witnessed during this trial has confirmed what we saw in the video. Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd.
- The community’s relationship with Police Departments across the country are fractured largely because of a lack of trust and the lack of accountability.
The NAACP Demands:
The NAACP will not rest and is well-positioned to continue our efforts to ensure the deaths of George Floyd, Daunte Wright, Breonna Taylor, Sandra Bland, and countless others are not in vain but move us toward true and unadulterated justice for our community.
- An end to the horrors of police brutality and a criminal justice system that properly hold law enforcement officials accountable.
- An end to qualified immunity, which protects government officials from lawsuits seeking monetary damages.
- Collecting data on police encounters that will provide transparency and safety for our communities.
