If Justice Was Found for George Floyd, Where Do We Go From Here?

The year 2020 was one of the most unpredictable and trying years in recent history. Amongst the Coronavirus Pandemic and the heated presidential election, George Floyd died on May 25, 2020 after being suffocated by a police officer. After Floyd’s death, protests against racially motivated police brutality began to spread all over the country. Although the Black Lives Matter movement had been around for several years before this, it rapidly gained traction after Floyd’s death sparked necessary national outrage. On April 20, 2021, Floyd’s murderer, Officer Derek Chauvin, was found guilty on all three charges which include second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. The three other officers who were with him on the day of Floyd’s death were charged with aiding and abetting murder. While we may feel compelled to rejoice in the fact that justice was served for Floyd, we must also remember the bigger issue at hand: Black people are still getting killed by police officers, and we cannot stop fighting until there is systematic reform to ensure that this does not happen in the first place. 

So many Black people have lost their lives this year at the hands of the police, a couple of which have recently made national news. Daunte Wright was a 20-year-old devoted father, a loving brother, and was described by his loved ones as “one of those kids that everybody looked up to.” Wright was very close with many of his family members, but one of his closest confidants was his mentor, Jonathan Mason, who worked at his high school. Mason recalled the times when Wright talked about his hopes and aspirations for the future: “He said, ‘I want to be an NBA player, I want to be a fashion designer, I want to be a business owner.’” Mason also recounted the times when they spent their sessions talking about more serious topics, specifically, how Black men have to conduct themselves around police officers. Mason would tell him that if he was pulled over, he would need to keep his hands on the steering wheel and stay still, similar to the conversations many Black parents have with their children at home. Wright always responded with “Man, why we gotta do all that just for people not to kill us?”

On Sunday, April 11, Daunte Wright was shot to death by a police officer who claimed that she mistook her gun for a taser. Wright’s mother, Katie Wright, told sources that her son called her when he got pulled over, stating that “they pulled him over because he had air fresheners hanging from his rearview mirror.” Moments later, she heard her son put the phone down after an officer told him not to run. That was the last thing she heard before someone abruptly hung up. When Mrs. Wright called back, a woman who had been in the passenger seat of the car told her that her son had just been shot. 

The shooting happened in Brooklyn Center, Minneapolis, which is nearly ten miles from the place where George Floyd’s murderer was on trial, causing anxiety and alarm in both of these neighboring communities. Though Wright and Floyd never knew each other, they share similarities in that they were both fathers, they lived in the same area, and they were both ruthlessly murdered by police officers. Another connection between the two that has recently come to light is that George Floyd’s girlfriend, Courtney Ross, was Daunte Wright’s teacher in high school. Ross remembers Wright as a happy kid with a great sense of humor who needed a lot of love. She also remarked on the fact that “our school system doesn’t serve kids like Daunte,” and that he needed more resources, but never got them.

Unfortunately another example of a child who didn’t receive the resources they deserved and then fell victim to police brutality is Ma’Khia Bryant. Ma’Khia Bryant was killed by police on the same day as Derek Chauvin was found guilty of killing George Floyd, a day that many hoped would bring an opportunity to feel at least some relief. While the conviction of Floyd’s killer is most definitely a step forward for our country, we cannot forget that this is only one of the many cases of police brutality against people of color. Many question whether  justice was actually served for Floyd or whether this was just finally a result that held his killer accountable. While there was overwhelming relief felt by many at the conviction of Floyd’s killer, there is so much work to still be done and so much that seems to be inherently wrong with the system. And so we are left with not only questions, but also perhaps a call to action: if justice was found for George Floyd, but true justice would have been him not being killed in the first place, what do we do differently? What is each of our responsibilities in invoking change? And, where do we go from here?

By Sophia Sanders