John -- Earlier today a jury in Minnesota convicted Derek Chauvin on all three counts for the death of George Floyd, and a collective sigh was released from every Black person in America.

I didn’t know I had been holding my breath. The protests, the pain. We needed this moment. We needed to hear the word guilty.

It was the right verdict, but I struggle to call it justice.

Chauvin was not charged with first-degree murder, which would have come with a sentence of life in prison. Instead he was charged with lesser counts of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter.

The prosecution’s message here is that George Floyd’s death was an unintentional consequence of an officer’s poor conduct -- not the willful act of someone committing a murder on camera and fully expecting to get away with it.

I struggle to call this justice because these cases happen all the time, and only 1% of officers responsible ever face charges, let alone conviction. Today’s verdict amplifies how much work we have yet to do.

To have true justice, we must fundamentally transform our criminal justice system top to bottom. The institution of American policing -- from its racist roots in slave patrols -- must be dismantled and rebuilt around a mission of peace.

True justice would be George Floyd and Daunte Wright and Adam Toledo and countless more still being alive today. Free to live. Free to live full lives in a society that does not judge them because of the color of their skin.

Until justice is won,
 

Adrienne Bell
Executive Director
Brand New Congress