said. “And tomorrow, hopefully,
I see you again at the table.”
Jay Walker, an activist with
the political action groups
Rise and Resist and Gays
Against Guns, had his doubts
that Floyd’s family would see
justice and thought Chauvin
would only be convicted of
manslaughter.
But when he heard that
Chauvin was convicted on all
three counts, Walker said he
had a glimmer of hope in the
justice system for the fi rst
time in his life.
“We lived through Rodney
King, we lived through
Eleanor Bumpurs, we lived
through so many murders of
my people, year in and year
out long before there were cell
phones to catch any of this on
video,” he said. “We fi nally
have a moment where someone
is being held accountable
for killing a Black person for
no reason. … We can taste
some justice that we can feel
down to our very core. And tomorrow
we get back to work.”
Brooklyn Councilmember
Brad Lander refl ected that
it was remarkable that even
though Floyd’s murder was
recorded, people still had felt
anxious about the outcome
of the trial because too many
times, police offi cers are not
held responsible.
COURIER L 20 IFE, APRIL 23-29, 2021
Still, the candidate for
comptroller said, “We are a
long way from justice, because
there are so many more names
to say, just from the time of
George Floyd’s killing. We
were out here last year, saying
Breonna Taylor’s name, and
now Daunte Wright’s name
and Adam Toledo’s name.”
Once words were exchanged
at Barclays — which
has been dubbed Brooklyn’s
“accidental town square” because
of its popularity during
last year’s Black Lives Matter
protests — demonstrators
(Above) Brooklynites rallied at Barclays Center after Derek Chauvin was found guilty of murdering
George Floyd. (Left) NYPD Community affarirs offi ce look on at the crowd at Barclays
Center. Photos by Gabriele Holtermann and Lloyd Mitchell
hit the pavement, eventually
making their way to the Manhattan
Bridge.
For nearly a year since
Floyd’s killing, protesters have
taken to the streets of Brooklyn
and beyond to denounce
acts of racism and police brutality
across the country. Just
last week, Brooklynites met at
the Fort Greene arena to call
for justice for Daunte Wright,
a 20-year-old Black man who
was fatally shot during a routine
traffi c stop just a few
miles from where Chauvin’s
trial was taking place.
“We’re here to say enough
is enough,” Crown Heights
resident Stewart Mitchell told
Brooklyn Paper ahead of a memorial
bike ride organized by
Riders for Black Lives. “How
long can they let this happen?”
Since 2015, police offi cers
have fatally shot at least 135
unarmed Black people nationwide,
according to an NPR investigation.
Additional reporting by
Meaghan McGoldrick, Caroline
Ourso, and Robert Pozarycki
CHAUVIN CONVICTION
Continued from page 20
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