The day, minute, hour, second we have all been waiting for. George Floyd died while in custody in Minneapolis. After the death of Philando Castile, $12 million was invested into police reform and training in the city.
Even after that, here we are at the trial for the death of George Floyd, and most recently, Daunte Wright dying at the hands of a police officer in Minneapolis as well. If these laws don’t change soon, things won’t get better let alone stop. Laws have to change to include accountability for officers that take advantage of the badge and invoke unnecessary force that result in citizens dying. It’s a horrible feeling to be worried about yourself or a family member encountering law enforcement.
I worry all the time about my husband or my oldest son encountering the police. We had to have a talk with him about encountering law enforcement before discussing the birds and the bees. That is ridiculous to have to do that, but there is no choice.
Now, here we are at one of the biggest incidents since Rodney King, since Alton Sterling, and more and it still feels like we aren’t living the 21st century. Derek Chauvin was charged with second degree unintentional murder, 3rd degree murder, and 2nd degree manslaughter. The real question was always what will they convict him. I always saw a conviction on the horizon, but today is the day that history was made in the form of accountability.
These jurors did the right thing and we have a conviction. It is now that we need to change laws and we need to ensure we participate in elections at the local and state level to ensure we re holding those that need to be accountable.
How do I feel at this point? I still feel like there is still work to be done. A lot of work and we have to get this work done. Sometimes it feels like equality is never on the horizon, but maybe somehow some way, we can make it work.