On this edition of Your Call, we're discussing the verdict in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer who killed George Floyd on May 25, 2020. On Tuesday, the jury found Chauvin guilty of all three charges, second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Chauvin is the first white police officer to be convicted for murdering a Black man in Minnesota history.
The most serious charge, second-degree murder, carries a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison. Since 2005, only seven on-duty police officers have been convicted of murder. Less than 140 on-duty police officers have been chargedwith murder or manslaughter. What are your thoughts on the verdict and where we go from here?
Guests:
Kahlil Gibran Muhammad, Professor of History, Race, and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School and author of The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America
Chris Vanderveen, director of reporting for 9News in Denver
Web Resources:
AP: Chauvin guilty of murder and manslaughter in Floyd’s death
NPR, Brian Mann: Critics Say Chauvin Defense 'Weaponized' Stigma For Black Americans With Addiction
9News, Chris Vanderveen: Facedown and handcuffed is no way to die, yet it keeps happening over and over again
LA Times, Sarah D. Wire: George Floyd’s death sparked calls for police reform. Why hasn’t Congress acted?
Black Journalists Therapy Relief Fund
