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The Chauvin Trial is Over (For Now)
But the national nightmare of police violence continues.
The nation, and the citizens of Minneapolis in particular, felt a collective sense of relief yesterday as the news came down the wire that the Derek Chauvin trial had ended in a conviction on all charges.
Surely the most compelling evidence in the case was something many of us saw for ourselves- recorded on video by terrified and furious bystanders; the last moments of George Floyd’s life and then-Officer Derek Chauvin’s shocking, callous disregard of it.
The evidence in the case was overwhelming, and difficult to ignore.
The same can be said for our social and political climate of late, so fraught after the widespread protests of 2020 following the death of Floyd, and the attendant destruction which resulted. Minneapolis has felt like a powder keg since long before the trial started.
In the past week, the city has been in a state of lock-down in anticipation of the Chauvin verdict. Schools have been closed, not due to Covid, but in case the streets became too unsafe in the event Chauvin was acquitted. Around the country, storefront windows have been boarded up, police presence increased.
Criminal justice reform advocates and activists have watched the events in Minnesota with great trepidation…