Last week, when a jury convicted former-Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin of murder and manslaughter in the death of George Floyd, the overwhelming theme for crowds in Minneapolis awaiting the verdict was that the sentencing meant accountability – not justice.
IU graduate student Selena Drake helped organize the “Enough is Enough” march in Bloomington last summer, where thousands turned out to protest police brutality. She was hesitant to get her hopes up about a conviction but was relieved to hear the verdict.
“I was holding my breath the whole time, obviously,” Drake said. “But as with any case, like Breonna Taylor, I was holding my breath as well, but the attorney general did nothing. So, it was kind of like a sense of hopelessness to be honest. But I still felt a little hope just due to the fact everything about this case was different.”
Drake said Chauvin being placed on trial separately from the other officers involved made her think he might be convicted, and the prosecution had all the facts they needed to prove their case.
She said the verdict meant accountability for one officer, but justice will require a systemic change.
Drake added the fact that more Black and brown people have been killed by police demonstrates the lack of justice; naming Ma’Khia Bryant, 16, who was fatally shot by police in Columbus, Ohio and Daunte Wright, 20, who was fatally shot by an officer in a Minneapolis suburb this month.
“When it does come to ‘what is justice?’ I believe it’s literally disbanding the whole system and restarting from new. And it’s possible. If you look at the police departments, they don’t function as one.”
Drake said different cultures exist at different departments and there needs to be a national standard.
Drake hopes the “Enough Is Enough” protest last summer showed people that they can take action and speak out for justice and hold their government accountable.
“The original intent of the Enough is Enough March and Protest was to bring a sense of unity at a time when it was essentially snatched from our hands,” Drake said. “So the next step is accountability within our local government and local police department. We didn’t just sit there and talk about what was happening. We called out politicians, we called out local officials.”
