I think it goes without saying what has been on my mind this week. The conviction of Derek Chauvin has come as a relief, and a push for more. The relief came in the form of an (ex) officer finally being held accountable for his actions, which was murder. As many others have said during the week, this isn’t justice, it is a police officer actually being held accountable for the murder of another human being: George Floyd. The push for more is due to the fact that during the case of Chauvin we continued to witness a plethora of unjust killings by the police, let alone one that happened 10 miles from where this case was being heard. This encapsulates the bittersweet nature that this week has embodied. Yes the consequences of Chauvin’s actions have been felt, but the system that has unjustly killed black and brown lives is still very much in place.
I had a difficult time when the verdict came through for Chauvin. I was relieved that the jury handed down three guilty verdicts for the unjust killing of George Floyd, but with these other killings happening outside of the courthouse it showed how much more work needs to be done. Even in an instance of progress, it felt like there is (and of course there is) so much more work to do. Like Van Jones said “One down, many more to go”.
Sometimes when there is so much to say, less is more. I have too many feelings and emotions bouncing around in my head still that it is incredibly hard to write them all out. I want to try to continue and combat the social injustices in the world, but I am also still learning the best ways to do so. So in that regard I will end with this. Continue to educate yourself. Donate to organizations fighting these racial injustices. Call your congresspeople, senators, governors, whoever that has the opportunity to enact laws and implement different systems that will not allow unjust killings like this to continue in our country. In order to break from what has been so ingrained in our society as the status quo, we have to fight. A fight to make people see the injustices that are happening in America. A fight to push people that don’t deal with these injustices to actually do something about it. A fight is necessary for humanity and equality, and this fight is far from over. This is a baby step toward progress, but it is still progress. One down, and I hope we change these systems soon because if there are many more to go that means too many more lives will be lost unjustly.
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