More Than a Trial

By Eliana Finkel ‘24

“I can’t breathe,” three all too familiar words, were cried out over twenty-five times and, eventually, heard around the world. These words ingrained the memory of George Floyd into our minds, a new murder in American history. 
In 2020, after the infamous video of Floyd’s killing surfaced, millions took to the streets in protest of his murder. Worldwide, people had access to his last nine minutes. All through the summer of 2020 until this day, their fight for justice has not ceased; the anger and frustration they felt came from a place of overwhelming fear that this might happen to them, or to someone they love. 

The trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin for the death of Floyd began on March 26. Tried for excessive use of force, he was found guilty of manslaughter, second-degree murder and third-degree murder.
Five men (three black, two white) and seven women, (five white, two mixed-race) acted as Chauvin’s jury of peers. The search for an unbiased jury was taken seriously; two jurors had been asked to step down when they admitted they could “not be impartial after a twenty-seven million dollar settlement,” the New York Times reported.
    It is very hard to stay open-minded after that video streamed online and protesters raged throughout the country. As potential jurors were interviewed beforehand, some came in with a negative attitude towards Chauvin solely based on the horrifying video they saw. The New York Times stated that jurors agreed to “put aside what they learned about the case through the media” though it is hard to differentiate personal opinion from fact.
    As this trial progressed, we waited for the outcome of justice, a value that this country claims to be built upon. But since the moment white colonizers took over native land, it was their objective that people of color be pushed out of their own country. That Chauvin had “no intent” to kill Floyd is inexcusable and ignorant. The murder of George Floyd was just another attempt to push people of color out of this country; this comes as no surprise. 
Floyd was the one convicted and sentenced to death for a crime in which he was never proven guilty, by one single white man in America. The trial taking a year indicates the larger problem of taking accountability for racist actions. There is no excuse for this trial being delayed because Floyd got his execution date the day he met Chauvin.
But the trial finally occurred and a verdict was reached; guilty on all three charges. This is not a celebration, but a step in the right direction. Through these 330 days of waiting for a trial, police brutality only increased. That is the living proof that just because the system may work, it is still partially broken. Black Lives Matter stated “until we have a world where our communities can thrive free from fear, there will be no justice.”