The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Crowds react with mix of joy, wariness
London Williams stood in Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, D.C., moments before the verdict was read in George Floyd’s murder trial Tuesday, wondering how he would cope if the white police officer who killed the Black man was acquitted.
“I feel very nervous. It’s already hard as it is as a Black man in today’s society,” said Williams, standing with a date in the plaza near the White House renamed after Floyd’s death last May. “If this doesn’t go right, I don’t know how safe I will feel.”
Then, the verdict came for former Minneapolis Officer Derek Chauvin: guilty on all counts. Williams doubled over with emotion, covered his face and wept.
With that outcome, Black Americans from Missouri to Florida to Minnesota cheered, marched, hugged, waved signs and sang jubilantly in the streets. But they also tempered those celebrations with the heavy knowledge that Chauvin’s conviction was just a first, tiny step on the long road to address centuries of racist policing.
Stop ‘legal lynching’
Many said they had prepared for a different result after watching countless deaths of people of color at the hands of police go unpunished. The shooting death of another Black man, Daunte Wright, by officers in suburban Minneapolis during the trial and of 13-year-old Adam Toledo in Chicago last month heightened tensions and muted the court victory for many.
“We are relieved but not celebrating because the killing continues,” the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who traveled to Minneapolis for the verdict, said in a telephone interview. “We hope this is the breaking point to stop legal lynching.”
In St. Louis, Missouri, a police association of predominantly Black officers called the verdict important but “a pebble in the ocean.”
“This victory is small but historical.
Yet, why should we be thankful for something that is right? Why should we be thankful when George Floyd doesn’t have his life or his future?” the Ethical Society of Police, which represents about 260 St. Louis officers, said in a statement. “We all need to continue to fight for a change. ... We need change to end this systemic racism.”
A litmus test
Still, the verdict buoyed others who saw the trial as a litmus test for how sincere Americans are about racial justice and consequential police reform after Floyd’s death set off global protests. Jurors in the high-profile case deliberated for 10 hours over two days. Chauvin was handcuffed and taken into custody immediately after the verdict was read.
“It means so much to me,” said Venisha Johnson, a Black woman who cried at a gathering in what’s been dubbed George Floyd Square in Minneapolis. “I’ve been praying for George every day, every morning at 6 a.m. I’m just so happy. The way he was murdered was terrible! But thank you, Jesus.”
In Houston’s Third Ward, the historically Black neighborhood where Floyd grew up, a small crowd gathered under a tent near a mural of Floyd to listen as the verdict was read on TV. People driving by honked their car horns and yelled, “Justice!”
“We feeling good. We thank everybody that stood with us. It’s a blessed moment,” said Jacob David, 39, who knew Floyd and wiped away tears.
Republican leaders were cautious in what they said after the verdict.
“It’s jury’s decision. I hope — you know, I think they can appeal whether or not he got a fair trial, but I told everybody that this is the way the system works,” said GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. “I accept the jury’s verdict and leave it up to the court.”
Prepared for unrest
As people rejoiced, law enforcement from Minneapolis to Portland, Oregon, prepared for any unrest in the hours to come.
In Grand Rapids, which had some of Michigan’s worst violence after Floyd’s death, authorities placed concrete barriers around the police building before the verdict was announced. Officials said they would protect the right to peacefully assemble but also wanted to be on guard for “chaos and destruction.”
And in Portland, which has seen repeated protests and vandalism since Floyd’s death, the mayor declared a state of emergency and put state police and the National Guard on standby to help local authorities with any unrest. Small groups of protesters have set fires, broken windows and vandalized buildings, including a church, a Boys & Girls Club and a historical society, in recent days over the deaths of Wright and Toledo, as well as a fatal police shooting in Portland last week.
The FBI’S Portland office also said in a statement that the verdict was a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” to build a more just society but cautioned that anyone caught vandalizing property or committing any other crime while protesting would be held accountable.
Floyd’s family
For the family of George Floyd, the murder conviction was a confirmation of something they knew but feared the justice system might never validate: that their loved one’s life mattered.
Family members hugged each other tightly and shed tears of joy. The sense of relief was palpable as the group gathered in a downtown Minneapolis hotel for a post-verdict news conference that doubled as a kind of spiritual revival with prayers, applause and spontaneous shouts of “Amen!”
“Say his name!” Floyd’s relatives chanted as they entered the room, fists raised in the air. “George Floyd!”
The Floyd family attorney, Ben Crump, cast the verdict as a critical moment in America’s troubled history of race, policing and criminal justice.
“We frame this moment for all of us, not just for George Floyd,” he said. “This is a victory for those who champion humanity over inhumanity, those who champion justice over injustice, those who champion morals over immorality.”
Before the verdict, Philonise Floyd said he felt a responsibility to do his part to get justice for his older brother — and hopefully take a step toward broader societal change.
“I don’t want him to be another person on a T-shirt,” Philonise said.