I started writing an essay yesterday, and I was going to finish it today. But it’s 4:56 PM on Tuesday, April 20 and the Derek Chauvin verdict is in, and I find that I can’t really think about anything else until someone tells me if it’s a guilty or not guilty. I’m praying for the former. It won’t bring George Floyd back, but peace demands justice.
I’m watching the coverage on MSNBC. It’s a beautiful spring day here in Maryland, sunny and warm and almost perfectly still. The Minneapolis crowds surrounding the Hennepin County Courthouse are dressed in down jackets and parkas so it’s obviously cold there. But it’s sunny and almost perfectly still, at least from my vantage point in front of my TV hundreds of miles away. A few people are holding signs, and a few are recording video on their phones, and a few appear to be chanting along with a man holding a bullhorn. But most of them are just standing still, just waiting, just like the rest of us.
It’s 5:04 now. The judge is about to announce the verdict. He just tapped on his microphone, and gave the all-rise order as the jury enters the courtroom.
Members of the jury, I understand that you have a verdict.
State of Minnesota, Hennepin County vs. Derek Chauvin.
Guilty, guilty, guilty.
These are the true and correct verdicts.
Exhale.
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