Guilty on all counts.

I'm thinking about the literal millions of Black men and women who've been murdered, who were lynched and slaughtered with disregard, and never had their day in court, let alone a just ruling.

I'm thankful for accountability and I'm still mourning the death of George Floyd. For him and his family, there can never be true justice.

While we breathe a sigh of relief, let's remember that it was not just Derek Chauvin found guilty in that courtroom today. George Floyd's death was pre-mediated by a system that since its conception has disregarded Black and Brown lives. That system is also guilty, and while a judge will determine Derek Chauvin's sentence, we determine the future of our communities and our society. Justice cannot be confined to the jury deliberation room, the ruling, or the sentence.

We must understand that no single verdict can ease the burden of the ancestral trauma we carry.

Black America needs more than one verdict. We need reparations.

We need to continue to be, as we have been, vigilant vehicles of justice.

I'll continue to pray for George Floyd and his family. I'll continue to pray for Daunte Wright and for Adam Toledo, for all those whose names we know and for the many more whose names we never learned.

I'll continue to pray for the day that justice will not be an exception or a surprise, but an expectation and our reality.

Erica