Derek Chauvin's going to prison! It's official!
A significant miscarriage of justice has been avoided, and a notable step in eradicating racial injustice in the US has been taken this week. That calls for celebrations, despite how much more needs to be done. As you know, Chauvin's treatment of African-American man George Floyd last year culminated in Floyd's death at Chauvin's hands, and this sparked protests and demonstrations worldwide; one of which I'm proud to say I attended here in Australia.
An all-white jury found him guilty, which shows how the culture has changed since an all-white jury acquitted the police who beat Rodney King in 1992, and another positive is that therefore a repeat of the Los Angeles riots that followed that acquittal didn't happen. Whether these jurors wanted justice and equality truly to be served or simply for no retribution to happen, we'll never know, and I don't think it matter matter. What does matter, are Black lives, and that this trial resulted in a guilty conviction. And hopefully one of those will soon also come to the other police who witnessed Chauvin's crime and stood idly by.
Now, I am well aware all police offers are as human as everybody else; I mean, how can't they be? But that is no excuse for any misconduct they display, especially if they know it's wrong, and just because they enforce the law in no way puts them above it. Certainly not to the point where they can act as judge, jury or executioner. George Floyd infamously said "I can't breathe" as Floyd fatally suffocated him. I hope very soon, Chauvin enters the prison shower and meets a Black man who knows what he did, rapes him for it and then says "That's for George, you racist piece of shit."
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