‘This is not over’
Biden vows to defeat racism in reforms to US police after Floyd murder
THE conviction of the brutal officer who killed George Floyd by kneeling on his neck will be used to spark a wave of US police reform, President Joe Biden vowed yesterday.
He insisted the guilty verdict against Derek Chauvin could be a ‘giant step forward’ for racial justice – but the fight was far from won.
The US breathed a collective sigh of relief after Chauvin, 45, was convicted by a Minneapolis jury on Tuesday. Many cities had been braced for trouble if the sacked officer was cleared but instead saw scenes of jubilation. The President, who had told Mr Floyd’s family he was ‘praying for the right verdict’, said he now wanted to do what he could to ensure such a killing could never happen again.
Mr Floyd’s nephew said it could be a ‘pivotal moment’ as Chauvin faces up to 40 years behind bars.
Mr Biden yesterday urged Congress to enact reform put forward by his Democrats but vehemently opposed by Republicans and powerful police unions.
From the White House, he said: ‘It was a murder in the full light of day and it ripped the blinders off for the whole world to see the systemic racism that is a stain on our nation’s soul – the knee on the neck of justice for black Americans; the profound fear and trauma; the pain, the exhaustion that black and brown Americans experience every single day.
‘This can be a giant step forward in the march toward justice in America. But it’s not enough, we can’t stop here. In order to deliver real change and reform, we can and we must do more to reduce the likelihood that a tragedy like this will ever occur again.’
Noting that Mr Floyd’s last words were ‘I can’t breathe’, which he repeated 27 times as Chauvin knelt on his neck for over nine minutes, Mr Biden said: ‘We can’t let those words die with him.
‘We have to keep hearing those words. We must not turn away. We can’t turn away.’
Former president Barack Obama said the ‘jury did the right thing’, but added: ‘If we’re being honest with ourselves, we know that true justice is about much more than a single verdict in a single trial. True justice requires that we come to terms with the fact that black Americans are treated differently, every day. It requires us to recognise that millions of our friends, family and fellow citizens live in fear that their next encounter with law enforcement could be their last. And it requires us to do the sometimes thankless, often difficult, but always necessary work of making the America we know more like the America we believe in.’
Congress now faces huge pressure to pass the George Floyd Justice In Policing Act, which has stalled in the Senate – the upper house of American politics. It would ban choke-holds on suspects and set up a national police misconduct registry.
Mr Floyd’s brother Philonise told ABC News: ‘I’m just happy we will have the opportunity to cement his legacy and hopefully the... act will be passed because people’s blood is on that bill.’
Mr Floyd’s nephew Brandon Williams told CNN the verdict was a ‘pivotal moment, a chance for America to take a turn in the right direction’. He said: ‘We need each and every officer to be held accountable. Until then, it’s still scary to be a black man or woman in America and encounter the police.’
At the end of the trial, celebrations went on long into the night at the spot in Minneapolis where Mr Floyd, 46, was killed last year.
He was arrested by Chauvin and three other officers for using a fake $20 note to buy cigarettes.
On Tuesday night, a man threw dozens of $20 notes into the crowd in celebration after the guilty verdict, saying he was doing it in ‘ memory’ of father- of- five Mr Floyd. However, another black family were in mourning after Ma’Khia Bryant, 16, who was wielding a knife in the street during an argument, was shot dead by a police officer in Columbus, Ohio – just as the Chauvin jury in Minneapolis returned their verdict.
Three other former Minneapolis police officers are due to go on trial in August accused of aiding and abetting the attack by Chauvin, who is expected to be sentenced in June.
‘Pivotal moment for America’