The Derek Chauvin Trial

Yuppie????? Wasn't that a slang term in the 80's??

Today was wild. I experienced tear gas for the first time, I saw people shot, and I can definitely confirm that Antifa was in DC causing violence for news cameras.

After the Chauvin verdict, will there be new accountability for American police?

The widespread celebration that followed the conviction of a former Minneapolis police officer for the murder of George Floyd left a lingering question for many: Would the verdict have any lasting impact on policing in America?

Derek Chauvin’s conviction on all counts — second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter — meant that the 45-year-old former officer, a nearly 20-year veteran of the Minneapolis police force, could face years in prison for the brutal encounter that ended Mr. Floyd’s life.

President Biden called the verdict “too rare” and said that it should serve as a catalyst for reforms in law enforcement. In the wake of the jury’s decision, there are broad calls in many cities for recalibrating the relationship between the police and the public.

The verdict brought some sense of closure in the death of Mr. Floyd, who died on May 25, particularly to those who were close to him. But on the larger issue of police killings and use of force around the country, there were challenges ahead. More than three people a day were killed at the hands of law enforcement during Mr. Chauvin’s trial.

Otis Moss III, pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, said the country has yet to reckon with the systemic problems that Black activists have pointed to for decades.

“Reckoning suggests that we are truly struggling with how to reimagine everything from criminal justice to food deserts to health disparities — we are not doing that,” he said. The verdict, he said, “is addressing a symptom, but we have not yet dealt with the disease.”

While some state legislatures have passed law enforcement reform bills, including bans on no-knock warrants and chokeholds, others have taken the opposite approach. Several states are considering bills that could effectively criminalize public protests.

Officials and law enforcement agencies across the country had braced for mass protests and possible civil unrest if the jury had found Mr. Chauvin not guilty of murder.

But after Mr. Chauvin was escorted from the courtroom in handcuffs, a crowd outside the Hennepin County courthouse in Minneapolis erupted in cheers. Most public gatherings nationwide were largely celebratory, with some activists Tuesday night calling for continued public attention on other recent police shootings.

People across the country expressed a sense of relief and hopefulness, from New York to Donna, Texas.

“That blue wall of silence may be finally cracking,” said Juan Carmona, the head of the social studies department at Donna High School in the border town of Donna. “Police officers are like anybody else, and they’re seeing what’s happening in the country.”

Our system of justice has worked as it should, with the prosecutors and defense presenting their evidence to the jury, which then deliberated and delivered a verdict. The trial was fair and due process was served. We hope and expect that all of our fellow citizens will respect the rule of law and remain peaceful tonight and in the days to come.

As I said yesterday, our First Amendment freedoms are sacred. The men and women serving their communities—law enforcement officers from numerous agencies as well as the National Guard—are there to protect you and defend your rights as Americans. We urge you to regard them as guardians of the peace and we urge members of all of our communities to be safe and to make good decisions when making their voices heard.

Please, stay safe.

I didn’t want to make the mistake of lumping all cops together.

...It will also be interesting to see what happens to the other three officers involved in the arrest. Not sure when their trials are, but if they are convicted as accomplices, it will send a message out the complicity of other officers at the scene. Any one of those officers could have saved Floyd's life just by standing up to Chauvin. Convicting them will send a message as well.

A jury convicted Chauvin of second- and third-degree murder and manslaughter, a development that Biden described as a “step forward” toward addressing systemic racism and police misconduct but “not enough.” Biden that when speaking with Floyd’s family he “assured them we’re going to continue to fight for the passage of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act so I can sign the law as quickly as possible.”

The bill aims to end certain police techniques, including chokeholds and carotid holds, two forms of potentially deadly force. Such practices would be banned at the federal level, and federal funding for local and state police agencies would be conditioned on those agencies outlawing them. The bill also seeks to improve police training and invest in community programs designed to improve policing and promote equitable new policies.

Other provisions in the bill would:

Ban no-knock warrants in federal drug cases and, as with chokeholds, encourage local and state agencies to comply by tying prohibitions to federal funding. A no-knock warrant led to the fatal police shooting of 26-year-old Breonna Taylor last year in Louisville, Kentucky.

End “qualified immunity,” which protects law enforcement officers from most civil lawsuits.

Make it easier to prosecute police officers accused of misconduct by changing the legal standard from willfulness to recklessness.

Prohibit racial, religious and discriminatory profiling by law enforcement at the local, state and federal levels and mandate training against such discriminatory profiling.

Require local and state police agencies to use existing federal funds to ensure the use of body cameras, require all federal uniformed officers to wear body cameras, and require all marked federal police vehicles to use dashboard cameras.

Create a national police misconduct registry to prevent police officers who are fired or pushed out for bad performance from being hired by other agencies.

Use federal grants to help communities establish commissions and task forces to study police reforms.

Address police militarization by limiting how much military-grade equipment is awarded to state and local law enforcement agencies.

Enhance “pattern and practice” investigations of police departments by granting the Justice Department subpoena power and establishing grant programs for state attorneys general to conduct their own probes.

I don’t care what Floyd did – at the time he was stopped and no threat. Why the h*ll would you continue to harm the man? Makes no logical sense.

Now whenever a violent black attacks someone, the police aren't going to be allowed to do their job.