Like many of you, the Derek Chauvin guilty verdicts brought me some measure of relief, as well as a heavy recognition that it represents just one tiny step in the right direction. Although it was right and important that Derek Chauvin be held accountable for the murder of George Floyd, we cannot and should not confuse the proper administration of justice in this one case with the larger systemic change we so desperately need.
These verdicts were an all too rare instance of accountability in the wake of what has for generations been a tragic daily occurrence for many Black and Brown people - suffering humiliation, injury and death at the hands of police sworn to protect them. Until such accountability is the norm, rather than the exception, we must all remain committed to, and fully engaged in, the fight for public safety reform and the dismantling of systemic racism. We must continue to fight for justice for Ma’Khia Bryant, Adam Toledo, Daunte Wright, Breonna Taylor, and the countless other Black and Brown individuals who are harmed or killed by police each day.
And even as we do, we must remember that a guilty verdict cannot bring George Floyd back as a daddy to his 7 year old daughter Gianna, as a partner to his girlfriend Courtney, or as a beloved community member to his friends and neighbors. The same is true for Ma’Khaia Bryant’s mother Paola, Adam Toledo’s mother Elizabeth, Daunte Wright’s 1 year old son Daunte Jr., and Breonna Taylor’s boyfriend Kenneth. The loss for these families is permanent. It cannot be altered by guilty verdicts.
As I struggle to process the killings of Ma’Khia Bryant at age 16, Adam Toledo at age 13, Daunte Wright at age 20, and Breonna Taylor at 26, it sat very heavily with me that this is the very same stage of life of most of the students that my team and I support at Enroot. These young people had their entire lives ahead of them. If they were really lucky, they may have even lived to see the year 2100. Another thing many Enroot students have in common with them is identifying racially as Black, Latino, or both. I reflected back on moments when Enroot students have confided in me and other staff members their feelings of insecurity around police - and how they didn’t feel this way in their home country.
The feeling of insecurity and fear that so many people of color experience when they or their loved ones interact with police is also not changed today. It will not change tomorrow. It will not change until our system of public safety has been reimagined and transformed from the ground up, into one capable of ensuring the safety of all residents equally. It will not change until we make a collective commitment to honestly examine how the mindset of white supremacy, that white people are superior and more deserving of safety and liberty, is deeply embedded in our society and has conditioned us to expect a diminished version of justice for people of color. It will not change until we’ve rooted out this way of thinking and being from our institutions, one by one, and worked at an individual level to unlearn all that must be unlearned.
Ultimately, I do believe it is important for us to lift up the times when we, collectively, get something right. We must examine what it took to get it right, so that we are more capable of repeating it in the future. I was struck by the way CNN’s Van Jones put it moments after the verdicts were announced, “I think of that young girl that brought out her cell phone, and who stood there in horror, not knowing what to do but just holding that phone steady, she did the right thing. All those community members who came and begged and pleaded and talked, they did the right thing. That EMT person did the right thing. When people called the police on the police they did the right thing. When the police chief fired this man, he did the right thing. People who marched by the millions, they did the right thing. And part of what the message has to be is that we have to get more involved.”
It is important to try to interpret victories like this as evidence that we are capable of becoming a country that truly embodies our ideals. Though we are a long, long way away from achieving this, it is only through faith in this possibility that we find renewed courage to continue fighting.
Each of us has countless opportunities, every single day, to reject the status quo and engage in antiracist actions. So the next time you find yourself staring into the face of racism, subtle or overt, join me in asking yourself, “Am I doing the right thing?”
