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The Twin Cities had been preparing for a riot for weeks, but on Tuesday the crowd in front of the Minneapolis courthouse erupted in surprise and happy relief.
The boards covered the windows of downtown Minneapolis businesses and the fencing, topped with concertina wire, went to the Hennepin County Government Center, which houses the courtroom where the trial took place. But on Tuesday, 12 members of the jury found former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin guilty of murder, a victory for supporters of greater accountability by the police.
St Paul resident Tyrone Baker, 42, located outside the government building, was not expecting a guilty verdict, really. “But I’m glad it was,” he said. “It was time.”
Ben Crump, who heads the team of lawyers representing Floyd’s family, said they had finally received “painfully won justice.”
“Today’s verdict goes far beyond this city and has important implications for the country and even for the world,” he added. “Justice for black America is justice for all of America.”
Philonise Floyd, George FloydThe brother said at a press conference that he was waiting and had prayed for a guilty verdict. “Today we can breathe again,” he said.
People gathered in George Floyd Square, the intersection where he died, which has become an unofficial monument to him, and out of court. The atmosphere in the city center was celebratory, with people grilling chicken and burgers and handing out homemade cookies with chips.
One of the organizations, Restoration Incorporated, which creates healing spaces, offered people on-site aromatherapy treatment, “because there has been a lot of trauma and pain,” said founder Connie Rhodes.
A DJ wearing one Black lives matter hat played music from the top of a car with speakers in the trunk. Other cars blew their horns and a man in a Chicago White Sox hat and a megaphone shouted at no one in particular, “Today we won!”
At the same time, many people, with and without microphones, spoke of Chauvin’s conviction as a beginning, not an end. People had portraits of Philando Castella, a black man who was shot in 2016 in a Minneapolis suburb by a police officer who was later acquitted.
Baker talked about former police officer Kim Griffin, who he was accused of murder last week after killing 20-year-old Daunte Wright in a Minneapolis suburb. She must also go to jail, he said.
Minneapolis residents Mohamed Mohmud, 27, and Ali Omar, 26, arrived outside the government center just before the verdict was announced. They wanted to show their support for a conviction and witness the story in their hometown.
“Our kids will ask about this someday,” Omar said. “We don’t mean we were at home watching TV.”
Even as they expressed relief at the verdict of the day, they took into account other names, such as Dolal Idd, a 23-year-old Somali American whom Minneapolis police shot dead in December. They were also thinking about August, when the three officers in addition Chauvin who were present at Floyd’s murder go to trial. He has been accused of aiding and abetting the murder.
“What happened today was incredible, but the other three police officers allowed it. . . something has to happen to them, too, “Mohmud said.” Derek Chauvin doesn’t get to be a slaughtered lamb for the entire Minneapolis police department. “
Nor can the verdict change its day-to-day reality. The men said they would still worry about traffic stops – routine for most white Americans, but for black and brown youth, tied to the threat of violence.
“We’re terrified every time we crawl,” Mohmud said.
But change is approaching, community organizer Toussaint Morrison, an activist, told the crowd shortly before protesters marched through the city. More protests will be needed, including the homes of civil servants, but it will happen, he said.
When people protested outside the home of Pete Orput, the chief prosecutor handling the case against Griffin, “you saw white people come out of the houses with their fists up,” Morrison said. “Because the culture is changing. Accountability is approaching. ”
Minneapolis resident Ashley Flanigan, 29, said Floyd’s death had opened her eyes to racial injustice.
“George Floyd did not die in vain,” he said. “My hope is that this will be a step towards getting people moving in the right direction.”
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