Nearly a year after George Floyd's killing, a jury of his peers found Derek Chauvin guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter. As Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison put it, "I would not call today's verdict justice, however, because justice implies true restoration. But it is accountability, which is the first step towards justice." No verdict can restore the life of George Floyd, and no verdict will restore the lives of so many other Black people— including Daunte Wright in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota— who have been disproportionately killed as a result of police violence. We also acknowledge the reality that Chauvin’s conviction is the rare exception, indeed the first of its kind in Minnesota state history. Our work is just beginning, and our criminal justice and policing must transform to eliminate the bias, harassment, excessive force, and unequal treatment experienced by Black and Brown communities in our country for centuries. Today and every day, we stand with those communities and commit ourselves to anti-racist work in our practice of law and in our lives.
