Bay Area: People reflect on sentencing, express hope for change

As a judge handed former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin a prison sentence of 22 1/2 years for the murder of George Floyd, Bay Area residents paused to reflect on what has changed since his traumatic death more than a year ago — and what still needs to be done.

Chauvin, who was convicted of second-degree murder after a widely shared video showed him kneeling on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes, could have faced up to 40 years in prison, but state sentencing guidelines suggested 12 1/2 years. Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill announced the sentence as the world looked on.

In the Bay Area, some people felt a cathartic relief at the lengthy sentence, while others felt it wasn’t long enough. Still many — acknowledging how rare it is for a police officer to be charged, let alone serve prison time for an on-thejob killing — recognized how much has changed in the year since Floyd’s death.

Cat Brooks, co-founder of the Oakland-based Anti Police-Terror Project, said she is the “happiest abolitionist on the planet” after hearing the news.

“I hope that it sets a precedent for the rest of the country,” she said. “I think that one of the primary pathways for ending the epidemic of state violence in this country is for cops to be held accountable when they take our lives.”

Her organization has been fighting to slash the Oakland Police Department’s budget — part of a nationwide movement, sparked by police killings of Black men, to funnel money away from law enforcement agencies and toward enrichment programs for communities of color. On Thursday, the Oakland City Council passed a budget that prevented an additional $18 million from going to the police department over the next two years and instead put that money toward violence-prevention programs and social services.

John Powell, director of the UC Berkeley Othering and Belonging Institute, said Chauvin’s sentence seems reasonable given what he knows about the crime and the circumstances. But instead of the closing of this chapter bringing the Bay Area and the country together, he worries groups on the far left of the political spectrum and groups on the far right will use it to continue driving a wedge between the two sides.

“I’m not convinced as a country we’re ready to

heal,” he said. “I think too many people are benefiting from the hurt, from the division. It’s being both monetized and weaponized.”

San Francisco resident Katrina Soria said there was some relief that there was finally a sentence but worried Chauvin would find ways to minimize his time in prison.

“It’s a smidge of accountability,” Soria said. “There’s such a long road ahead, and this is one person held accountable.”

Floyd’s murder last spring prompted massive protests against police brutality across the Bay Area as well as the rest of the country. A few local demonstrations devolved into looting and vandalism. Several were met with police force, including the firing of lesslethal rounds and tear gas. But the Bay Area was calm Friday after Chauvin’s sentence was announced, with little sign of protests, rallies

or other gatherings.

Samantha Norman, an Oakland resident and member of Young Black Professionals of the Bay Area, led a protest last summer to call attention to Floyd’s murder and other racial injustices. On Friday, she watched updates on Chauvin’s sentencing and discussed it with her connections on the Clubhouse social media app. Norman, 33, would have liked to see Chauvin serve more time.

“But regardless of the time, even if today he had received 100 years or 50 years, it’s not going to bring George Floyd back,” she said.

Even so, Norman was surprised and happy that Chauvin was convicted in the first place.

“It’s a start,” she said. “Now the only thing we can think about ahead is solutions. What can we do in the future so people know this cannot happen?”

A statement from Bay Area Legal Aid echoed Norman’s plea for people to view the sentence as the beginning — not the end — of the fight for racial justice. Chauvin’s sentence demonstrates that police can be held accountable for the violence they inflict on Black people, the law center wrote. But it’s not enough.

“While the sentence marks a small but significant shift toward justice, it is not in itself a just outcome,” the legal aid center wrote. “Left intact are the systems of over-policing, widespread police violence, over-sentencing, and presumptive criminalization that help to prop up the systemic racism with which American society must reckon.”

“I’m not convinced as a country we’re ready to heal. I think too many people are benefiting from the hurt, from the division. It’s being both monetized and weaponized.” — John Powell, director of the UC Berkeley Othering and Belonging Institute