Op/Ed: The Pushback From the Conviction of Derek Chauvin

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Category: Op/Ed, Legal Commentary

Published on Wednesday, 21 April 2021 11:23

Written by Janet Walker

The conviction of Derek Chauvin appears to have sent a message across society and while this verdict appears to be a victory it is doubtful that it will become a precursor to sweeping, epic changes in policing.

The widening divide between law enforcement, race, and lethal force has become a daily topic, along with mass shootings, which all seem out of control and seem to run parallel to justice.

Understandably policing the mean streets of any city, USA, is challenging and police officers place their lives in danger every day they put on the uniform. And yes, there are corrupt cops, racist cops, those who wait for the opportunity to use the uniform, authority, gun, and badge, to enact their rage furthering the deep seeded, psychological issues burning below the surface.

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The palpable energy of that day, May 25, 2020, was diluted in the countless videos used as evidence against the now convicted Chauvin.

The public has seen the events and heard the hollow echoing words. We’ve heard the bystanders, the ever-growing crowd, the escalation of the situation and yet the majority of voices calling judgments from the sidelines, on that day and further to each day, have never experienced a life-or-death situation where the effort to subdue a crowd depended on the tactic used to subdue one man.

As much as we the people want to decry the double standard as discrimination the double standard is present so we the people can peaceably lead our lives without the streets becoming a free zone for any type of criminal. Policing is necessary.

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New York City is a good example. Marauding individuals committing random crimes, yes, and generally those that make the news are the out-of-control African American’s and the victims are generally white or Asian.

The physical violence is random and meant for the same purposes Derek Chauvin used when he knelt on George Floyd’s neck, to subdue. The marauding strangers which are labeled mentally ill, a menace, are not or they would be removed and remanded to Bellevue Psychiatric facility for treatment.

Chauvin should have recognized his tactic of subduing the suspect and crowd had been accomplished at the three-minute mark, the six-minute mark, but he continued.

Homeowners, who own a gun and use that weapon to protect their family in a home invasion are well within their rights at the first shot, any shot after can be deemed premeditative and becomes prosecutable.

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Moreover, when we move past the clear facts, yes, Chauvin used excessive force and was reckless, did he intend to murder or cause the death of George Floyd. No. And yet a life was taken and there needed to be accountability.

The jurors understood and in their hands lay the fate of one man, and without asking and unless they recently returned from MARS or were awakened from a coma, they were all very aware of the global protests and demonstrations sparked by Floyd’s killing.

Did any of these twelve men and women know anyone killed by a police officer? Were they influenced by the murder of Justine Damond, who had been killed by a Somalian police officer Mohammad Noor July 17, 2017 in the same city? 

Did they consider the billions of dollars of property damage, city streets turned into war zones, looting, burned out building and more killings, unrest, division and divide? All we understand would have occurred if the verdict had been differently. And the jurors understood that also.

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At this point, one would think George Floyd had been a contributing member of society, a pillar in the Civil Rights movement, a scholar, a thinker, an Obama, someone who had spent his life working to bridge the divide of racial injustice.

In reality, and for generations to come, the posterchild of the BLM movement to those who are of the African American population, and are the thinkers, the scholars, those who are working from within to bridge the divide will be left to hold up a life of someone who lived as a less than contributing member and after the accolades of false ideals he will be as what he was, as a career criminal, a habitual drug user, someone who had lived the general view of the majority of those not enlightened beyond seeing race as the first impression. This does nothing to further the BLM movement only reinforces the stereotypical view.

Just like Chauvin who assessed the immediate threat of both the suspect and crowd, the jurors assessed the threat of a verdict which could set off a global explosion and acted accordingly.