JUSTICE NOT SERVED

The Derek Chauvin Trial resulted in the surprising guilty verdict of the former Minneapolis Police Officer who committed a modern-day lynching in front of a crowd of witnesses, using his knee as a noose as he squeezed the life out of George Floyd’s body.

To say this verdict was a surprise is telling, especially when video evidence of Mr. Chauvin kneeling on Mr. Floyd’s neck — while Mr. Floyd cried out for his dead mother in agony — was so clear.

There are two justice systems in America, one for those of power or privilege and another for those who do not fit into those parameters. Time and time again, when a Police Officer or anyone playing Cop (see George Zimmerman) is accused of murdering a person of color, they are almost always acquitted of charges and the victim’s families are left picking up the pieces without a sense of justice ever being served.

Breonna Taylor’s family never received justice. In fact, the only punishment officer’s received in that case were for the bullets that missed her sleeping body.

I avoided the Chauvin trial, because I did not want to relive Black trauma and pain again. We have been down this road too many times, and although Floyd’s name was not Fernandez, his death and the death of others still come too close to home.

As the verdict was announced, I noticed social media was filled with posts claiming “Justice” or “Guilty” as if a guilty verdict erased decades of mistreatment.

One guilty verdict does not erase a history of systemic racism that was created to keep a people in place. We live in a society where the intersectionality of race, class, gender, and societal status is always considered. It has created a discriminatory bias and thinking, to the point where early on, many were calling this trail “The George Floyd Trial” as if the victim of a murder, one caught on camera and witnessed by dozens of people, was himself on trial instead of the man who murdered him.

Whenever these tragedies occur, many people are quick to say the “system is broken.” I say no, the system is working exactly the way it’s supposed to, by protecting those in power and keeping the rest of us in  place.

Mr. Floyd’s family did not receive justice, what we all saw was accountability being upheld.

Justice cannot be had in an unjust system. When one’s guilt or innocence can depend on whether they can afford a high-priced attorney, we are not living under a just Justice system. No, we are living in an oppressive system created to keep those in power powerful, and the have nots in check.

Justice was not served by Chauvin’s guilty verdict; it was just put on hold to appease the masses. 

The American Justice System needs to be severed instead…