A Break in the Clouds

This entire pandemic has had another cloud hanging over it that appeared on May 25, 2020, when George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was murdered in Minneapolis while being arrested on suspicion of using a counterfeit $20 bill. 

During the arrest, bystanders video recorded Derek Chauvin, a white police officer with the Minneapolis P.D., kneeling on Floyd's neck for nine minutes and 29 seconds after Floyd was handcuffed and lying face down.

Today, after a trial of several weeks and jury deliberation of 10+ hours, Chauvin was convicted of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. 

Like much of the nation – certainly all of Minnesota – I tuned into the reading of the verdict at 4 p.m. I was nervous. Could we count on the "system "to do the right thing? To service justice? I remember the Rodney King verdict well since I was just starting my newspaper career when that news broke. Police officers in L.A. beating up King mercilessly for 15 minutes – all caught on videotape as well, but the officers were later acquitted.

So today, I was hoping for a better ending. When I heard the first "guilty," I had a lump in my throat. By the third, tears in my eyes.

Tears of relief really. And sadness, too, that this is such a teeny tiny break in the clouds that hang over those who suffer this injustice and disrespect every day. There's such a long road to reach fairness and equity or even basic human respect. 

How embarrassing. How disgusting. How unjust.

I don't know about you, but I prefer sunny skies to tiny breaks in the clouds. It takes kindness first. It's such a little thing, yet so big all at once. Can we learn from this and do our best to be good humans? We can't be perfect, but opening our minds and hearts is a great start to being pretty good.

God, help us.