Skip to content
Connect
Stories

Call for action: the guilty verdicts in Derek Chauvin’s trial were just the beginning

(AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

The guilty verdicts in Derek Chauvin’s trial were just the beginning. True justice, say Northeastern scholars, requires a sustained social movement. “As we reflect upon the guilty verdicts in George Floyd’s killing, it is clear that we have reached a rare and historical moment on the road to justice and accountability,” wrote Joseph E. Aoun, president of Northeastern, in a message to the university community

“Like all milestones, this one also serves as a reminder of how much further we have to travel,” he wrote. “With this in mind, we should never stop asking ourselves what we can do—as individuals, as a university community, as a society—to elevate standards of fairness, decency, and human rights.”

Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer, was found guilty on Tuesday of three charges related to the murder of George Floyd last May. Floyd’s death touched off protests around the world against racial injustice and police violence—a bystander video showed Chauvin, a white man, kneeling on the neck of Floyd, a Black man, for almost 10 minutes.

On Wednesday, United States Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that the Department of Justice would be conducting an investigation into the practices of the Minneapolis Police Department. Meanwhile, three other former Minneapolis police officers who stood by while Chauvin choked George Floyd last May are awaiting trial for their involvement in Floyd’s death, as well.

“This was a moment that affirms the humanity of Black people,” says Margaret Burnham, university distinguished professor of law at Northeastern. “The verdict restores a kind of moral balance and it also is going to inform the conversations that we are now engaged in nationally around policing: What kind of policing do we want in our country? How can we create a system where Black people are not both over-policed and under-protected, as is true of the current system?”

Continue reading at News@Northeastern.

More Stories

The Pentagon is seen on Sunday, Aug. 27, 2023, in Washington.

Homeland security expert details what would a government shutdown mean for US national defense

09.29.2023
Taylor Swift reacts during the first half of a game between the Chicago Bears and the Kansas City Chiefs at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium on September 24, 2023 in Kansas City, Missouri.

Taylor Swift’s boost to voter registration (and to Travis Kelce)—are there any limits to her celebrity?

09.28.2023
The Google sign is shown over an entrance to the company’s new building in New York on Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2023.

Google monopoly trial shows appetite for enforcement on Big Tech, antitrust experts say

09.29.23
Q&A