Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin
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Biden calls the ruling “a step forward” and a demonstration that “no one should be above the law.” Harris Condemns America’s “Long History of Systemic Racism”
Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty Tuesday of all murder charges for the death of African-American George Floyd, after ten hours of deliberation by the Hennepin County court jury, in Minnesota.
The twelve members of the popular jury have indicated that Chauvin is guilty of involuntary murder in the second degree, murder in the third degree and murder in the second degree for the death of Floyd in May 2020, when he pressed his knee on the neck of the victim for more than nine minutes.
The second degree involuntary manslaughter conviction is a prison term of no more than 40 years, while third degree murder can take you a maximum of 25 years behind bars. The sentence for murder in the second degree does not exceed ten years and a financial fine of $ 20,000 (16,600 euros).
After reading the verdict, Judge Peter Cahill has announced that the sentence will be issued within eight weeks, after analyzing the last arguments of the defense of Chauvin, who will remain in prison, and preparing an investigation report, which will be later analyzed in a previous hearing.
The news has been received with joy by the dozens of protesters who have been at the doors of the court this Tuesday and during the more than two weeks that the trial has lasted.
«This is a great day for the world. We are finally beginning to see. We walk with our eyes tightly closed for a long time, but they begin to open today. For me it means that my friends and people who have also lost loved ones now have the opportunity to reopen their cases, “has celebrated Floyd’s girlfriend, Courteney Ross, reports CNN.
While Floyd’s brother, Philonise Floyd, has claimed to feel “relieved” of the guilty plea, after which he added that “we will have to protest, because it seems that this is an endless cycle”, referring to another young man African American, Daunte Wright, killed by security forces.
“Dereck Chauvin’s chapter may be closed, but the fight for police responsibility and respect for the lives of blacks is far from over,” said the National Association for the Advancement of Black People (NAACP) after hearing the ruling. , for its acronym in English).
The NAACP has stressed the need for the American “justice system” to recognize “its supremacist roots” and end “qualified immunity,” the legal principle that grants officials immunity from civil suits.
The ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement has pointed out, on the other hand, that despite the fact that “historically” the judicial system “has failed black families,” with this Tuesday’s decision “there has been a small step towards the surrender of accounts ».
“We hope that this guilty verdict begins to show that white supremacy will not win, that it has no place in democracy, especially one that is supposed to guarantee us our freedom to live,” he says.
“A FIRST STEP TOWARDS JUSTICE”
The attorney general of Minnesota, Keith Ellison, has valued that although “he would not refer to the verdict as justice, because justice implies a true restoration”, he considers that at least it is “accountability, which is the first step towards Justice”.
For his part, the governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz, has emphasized the idea that civil rights groups have expressed and has pointed out that new episodes such as Floyd’s can only be avoided “through a real systemic change” of institutions.
“The tragic death of Daunte Wright this week serves as a heartbreaking reminder that we still have much more work to do. Too many black people have lost, and continue to lose, their lives at the hands of law enforcement in our state, “he recalled.
“We must rebuild, restore and reinvent the relationship between law enforcement and the communities they serve. We must address racial inequalities in all corners of society, from health to home ownership to education, ”he stressed.
“ONE STEP FORWARD” FOR AN “EQUAL JUSTICE”
After hearing the jury’s decision, the US president, Joe Biden, has taken his Twitter account to ensure that the verdict is “a step forward” and “although it can never bring George Floyd back, this can be a great step forward on the march to justice in the United States.
“No one should be above the law,” he added, to stress that “today’s verdict sends that message,” however, “is not enough. We cannot stop here, “as” to achieve real change and reform, we can and must do more to reduce the likelihood of tragedies like this occurring. “
Both Biden and the country’s vice president, Kamala Harris, have offered a round in which Harris has urged the Senate to pass George Floyd’s Police Justice Act, after condemning “the long history of systemic racism” that holds the country back. .
However, he added that “a measure of justice is not the same as equal justice.” “Black men are fathers, brothers, sons, uncles, grandfathers, and friends. And neighbors “and their lives” must be valued in our educational, health, housing, economic system, in our criminal justice system. In our nation.
Harris has concluded that racial injustice “is not just a problem for black America or people of color. It is a problem for all Americans, “which prevents” fulfilling the promise of freedom and justice for all, “reports NBC.
The president, for his part, has influenced the statements during the press conference in which “it was a murder in broad daylight and tore off the blinders so that the whole world could see systemic racism, a stain on the soul of our nation , the knee on the neck of justice for African Americans ».
Also, Biden has recounted a conversation he had with Floyd’s daughter, Gianna Floyd, in which he conveyed that her father “changed the world”, and that he has left a “legacy of peace.”
The president of the House of Representatives, Democrat Nancy Pelosi, has also reacted to the jury decision, who through the same social network has lamented that “George Floyd should be alive today.”
Although “he did not die in vain”, since “the demands of his family for justice for his murder were heard all over the world.” However, he added that “we must ensure that other families do not suffer the same racism, violence and pain, and we must enact the George Floyd Police Justice Act.”
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