Minneapolis with hope, doubt in the face of Chauvin’s sentence | Black Lives Matter News

Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA – With a shaved head, wearing a civilian suit and wearing a blue medical mask, former police officer Derek Chauvin arrived in central Minneapolis court to be sentenced. Friday evening.

A small group gathered outside a Hennepin County courthouse in a grassy square to hear the verdict, intermittently. “no justice, there is no peace, ”others did the same less than four miles (6.4 km) from George Floyd Square in South Minneapolis, where Floyd was killed last year.

Judge Peter Cahill testified that several members of the Floyd family, Chauvin’s mother, and Chauvin himself were affected by the victims after brief statements. Sentenced to 22.5 years, deducted from the 199 days already served, following a second-degree murder allegation by Chauvin he was convicted in April.

Before making his decision, Cahill gave a brief statement, making a gesture of the trauma experienced by the community, the state and the country as a result of the trial, while extending the sympathies of the Floyd family.

“I’m not going to try to be deep or intelligent here because it’s not the right time,” Minnesota said in a light accent.

Cahill explained that he made the decision based on law and facts to highlight the decision, sympathy, or emotion, adding that “it’s just the job of the court … to deal with specific cases,” not to send political or cultural messages.

DA Bullock, filmmaker and community activist In North Minneapolis, he announced the phrase and a few moments later told Al Jazeera that Chauvin hadn’t given him time to think about how much time he could get.

“It never crossed my mind that it would be gratifying or change anything around the people who are safe in our neighborhoods now,” he said.

“I don’t think people are convinced of justice here, because they know that Derek Chauvin is not alone. They know this is [Minneapolis Police Department]- the whole problem “.

“There has also been frustration in the coverage of this case,” Bullock continued. “I understand it’s a big case, but it belies that we had another police murder Winston Smith“He was shot dead by police in Minneapolis on June 3.

“We don’t know anything about the case; there is no transparency, no facts about the case to find out why it was presented to the public. [the police] we reach out to him, “he added.” The story is not wrapped in a bow now that we have the condemnation and punishment of this officer. “

Outside the courtroom, the Reverend Al Sharpton, family lawyer Ben Crump Floyd and more gathered for Sharpton to pray repeating many of Bullock’s feelings.

“We got some court date, conviction and some time. Some will say that’s progress, ”Sharpton told people.

“I’ll tell you, as Malcolm X said – if you have a six-inch knife on your back, pulling out a four-inch is a breakthrough, but I still have a two-inch knife on my back.”

People gather outside the Hennepin County Government Center on June 25, 2021, awaiting the verdict of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. [Cinnamon Janzer/Al Jazeera]

Four miles (6.4 km) south of downtown, a loudspeaker is exploding in The Beatles as people turn around and turn over the cars they were driving from the intersection that reopened when Floyd was killed.

A group of young people with blue polystyrene eggs throw white spheres at each other while others struggle to get out of the way.

At the recently defunct gas station on the street, Broderick Johnson and Deon Moore were chatting and exchanging information when they first met in George Floyd Square for the first time. Johnson came to Minneapolis from Orlando, Florida, in accordance with the sentence for his summer trip.

“Being here with everyone, watching them come together, hearing the phrase – it’s history. I brought my wife and six-year-old son. It was really a blessing to share the moment and come to where it really happened,” he told Al Jazeera.

“It’s sad, but it’s something we teach children in the future that they’re not good cops. For Broderick, Chauvin’s 22-year sentence is a start, a step in getting to where we need to be.”

Moore, a week earlier, came to Minneapolis for Indiana at his cousin’s funeral and stopped today to come to George Floyd Square, which seems “surreal” to be here today. He says the sentence is a light murder.

“Thirty years would be beautiful, but guess what? He still has to go to Washington, ”he told Al Jazeera, citing that he was waiting for Chauvin federal accusations.

Under the canopy of the nearby gas station, Larry Hawkins came to the square today with a colleague from the Minneapolis neighborhood of Bloomington.

“He’s come to say goodbye to someone I’ve never met,” he told Al Jazeera. He is pleased that Chauvin has been convicted, but believes the sentence should be longer.

“I want to say this to Chauvin: if you felt he was wrong, why didn’t you do your job? Your job, if he did something wrong, was to take him to jail. And we wouldn’t be here. “

In the end, for Hawkins, “we shouldn’t have come together for that – we shouldn’t have murder or murder to come together.”