“No one should be above the law and today’s verdict sends that message, but it’s not enough,” Biden stated Tuesday evening at the White House. “This takes acknowledging and confronting head-on systemic racism and the racial disparities that exist in policing.”
Hours earlier, a jury had sentenced Chauvin of second-degree murder and lesser charges for cutting off Floyd’s air supply last May 25 as he lay handcuffed and begging for his life. The conviction, which stood out against decades of impunity for most police excessive-force cases, could mean decades in jail for the 45-year-old Chauvin, who will face sentencing in eight weeks. It further could lend momentum to congressional legislation named for Floyd that would set boundaries on aggression by police officers.
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“Painfully earned justice has arrived for George Floyd’s family,” Ben Crump, a lawyer who is head of its legal team, announced in a statement. The verdict’s impact, he explained, continues beyond Minneapolis and will have “significant implications for the country and even the world.”
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The episode that caused a racial reckoning around the globe unfolded last spring after Chauvin and other officers responded to a call from a convenience store, where a clerk explained Floyd had attempted to use a counterfeit $20 bill.
Bystanders’ video showed the 9 minutes and 29 seconds throughout which Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck. It galvanized the Black Lives Matter movement, already active after years of past killings by police and vigilantes, while attracting unprecedented backing from White people who marched for weeks last summer. Floyd’s death provoked an urgent debate regarding the broader issue of inequality and institutionalized racism in all its forms, including in corporate America.
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In his Tuesday evening address, the president showed optimism that the verdict could mark a “moment of significant change” for a country he stated has done too little to confront racial injustice. Biden said that the exhausted relief expressed by many Americans after a verdict that provided “basic accountability” only underscored the need for progress toward new federal policing legislation.
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Biden obtained the Democratic nomination – and ultimately the White House – in part on the strength of support from Black voters eager to see change after the presidency of Donald Trump. Trump repeatedly voiced backing for law enforcement while sharply scrutinizing demonstrators and other acts of protest, like Black National Football League players kneeling during the playing of the National Anthem.
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