New York: After nearly a year, the White former policeman Derek Chauvin has been convicted of murdering an African American artist George Floyd by kneeling on his neck on Tuesday.
President Joe Biden said after the verdict that the killing had “ripped the blinders off for the whole world to see the systemic racism” in the US. The verdict against Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis brought a sense of relief and peaceful celebrations around the country after fears that he may be acquitted or convicted only on lesser charges.
It is noteworthy that in 2020 George was arrested after a store clerk alleged he had passed a counterfeit 20 dollars bill in Minneapolis.
Floyd’s brother Philonise said that after the verdict “we are able to breathe again.”
After the verdict, Democratic Party member of the House of Representatives Pramila Jayapal described the movement’s agenda in a tweet: “We must put an end to police brutality, racism, and white supremacy. We can’t just say Black lives matter a” we must fight for Black lives.”
To overcome this, the House of Representatives has passed a bill named for him, the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, to bring about national police reform, but it has not yet been adopted by the Senate.
The legislation that Vice President Kamala Harris helped draft when she was a senator would prohibit police from using tactics like choke-holds or others like the one used on Floyd, require police to use body cameras and limit personal immunity for police from lawsuits.
(With inputs from IANS)
Ms Kalinga