FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM APRIL 22, 2021 • THE QUEENS COURIER 17
Queens officials, activists double down on calls for
police accountability following Chauvin verdict
BY ANGELICA ACEVEDO
AACEVEDOSCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
QNS
Former Minneapolis police offi cer Derek
Chauvin was convicted Tuesday of murdering
George Floyd last May, and while many
Queens elected offi cials and activists saw it
as justice, they also emphasized that there is
still much work to be done to not only hold
police accountable, but also end the systemic
racism entrenched in the country’s criminal
justice system.
Chauvin, a white policeman, knelt on
Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes
while Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, was
handcuff ed and pinned to the ground. A harrowing
video of the moment was shared on
social media, sparking global outrage. Floyd’s
killing, along with countless other victims of
police brutality, then prompted the largest
civil rights protests in decades.
Aft er nearly a month of Chauvin’s trial,
the jury deliberated in less than a day and
found him guilty of second-degree murder,
third-degree murder and second-degree
manslaughter.
Queens Borough President Donovan
Richards said that although the decision is
“just and welcomed,” it’s “no cause for celebration”
as “no verdict will reunite George
Floyd’s children with their father or his
siblings with their brother.”
“On its own, today’s ruling should not
be momentous — we’ve all watched Derek
Chauvin brutally murder another human
being on camera. But while this trial has
ended, with justice fi nally being served
for an unarmed Black man killed by law
enforcement, let this day be just the start of
our shared fi ght to rid our criminal justice
complex of the systemic racism that has infected
it for centuries,” Richards said. “Until
Black and brown lives fi nally matter equally
in our society, our struggle continues — in
the name of George Floyd, Daunte Wright,
Adam Toledo, Breonna Taylor, Eric Garner,
Sean Bell, Alton Sterling, Philando Castille
and all those we have senselessly lost.”
Rockaway Assemblyman Khaleel Anderson
said that while a form of justice
was served, “we will not keep our eyes off
of the never-ending fi ght for true police
accountability.”
“As the youngest African-American
serving in the New York State Assembly,
this verdict speaks to me and people who
look like me and we matter,” Anderson
wrote on Twitter. “When murder is committed,
a gun and badge does not equal
impunity.”
Southeast Queens state Senator James
Sanders Jr. said “this is the fi rst time” in his
lifetime that he’s seen a white police offi cer
convicted of killing a Black man. Sanders
noted that although Chauvin faces up to
75 years in prison, he may only get 12 years
as a fi rst-time off ender — “and that is not
nearly enough time.”
“I think that today we have seen a strike
against the racism that exists in our country
particularly as it relates to law enforcement
and Black and brown people,” Sanders said.
“However, we must continue to fi ght. Th e
battle is not over. Th is is one small victory.
Th ere will be many more victories needed
before we see true change.”
Other elected offi cials and activists emphasized
that the verdict is not justice, but
accountability. Experts have noted that it’s
rare for police offi cers who kill people to be
charged with a crime and more so for them
to be convicted of murder.
“The perpetual pain of Blacks in
America from a wound that never really
has time to scar over, much less heal, before
it is again ripped open by a headline, a
video, a verdict,” Public Advocate Jumaane
Williams said. “So while I’m relieved the
jury reached the right decision, that Derek
Chauvin will face consequences, I’m not
celebrating. It’s hard to truly breathe a sigh
of relief when George Floyd cannot. Derek
Chauvin is guilty, but George Floyd is dead.
Th at this verdict was ever in doubt, amid
overwhelming evidence, is itself evidence
of the reality that to some, Black lives matter
less than white privilege.”
Williams added that while the movement
for justice and equity that swept the
country has delivered progress in some areas,
“most are overdue and underdelivered, falling
far short of the need to fundamentally
redefi ne public safety.”
Queens Liberation Project (QPL), a collective
of activists who organize protests
and mutual aid in the borough, recently
held a demonstration for Daunte Wright,
a 20-year-old killed by a police offi cer this
month just miles from where Chauvin was
on trial. In a statement, QPL said Chauvin’s
verdict is a “a small victory in an otherwise
long and diffi cult battle towards real justice
and it wouldn’t have been possible without
the video from a teenage girl.”
“White supremacists (police) have been
killing Black and Brown people with no
accountability for all of American history.
How many names do we have just from this
week? Daunte Wright, Adam Toledo, Anthony
Th ompson Jr., to name only a few. Th e
cop who paralyzed Jacob Blake for life is back
on the streets with a badge and a gun. One of
Breonna Taylor’s murderers got a book deal.
A white supremacist carried out a fatal attack
on Sikh workers,” QPL stated. “Th is verdict in
this case is a relief but it’s not enough.”
Some pointed to a New York Times report
that found police in the U.S. have killed more
than three people per day since Chauvin’s
trial began on March 29.
“Derek Chauvin was not a rogue offi cer
who failed to follow his training, and rare
convictions are not a sign that the system is
changing,” Kesi Foster, co-director of Youth
Power Project at Make the Road New York
said. “In New York City, the families of Eric
Garner, Delrawn Small and Kawaski Trawick
are still fi ghting for Mayor de Blasio to fi re all
the offi cers involved in their murders. Status
quo reforms, including body-worn cameras,
de-escalation training and ‘neighborhood
policing’ have not prevented police killings
or protected our communities from police
abuse and misconduct. We must move to
immediately reduce the power, scope and
budget of the NYPD by divesting from the
NYPD’s budget and redirecting those funds
for critical social services in communities
plagued by police violence.”
Many lawmakers, candidates and activists
continue to call for a real commitment
to transformative change, such as passing the
George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which
Congress passed in March.
Queens/Bronx Congresswoman Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez said Chauvin’s verdict
isn’t a “substitute for policy change,” and
although the Justice in Policing Act is important,
it too doesn’t address the core issues.
Photo by Dean Moses
“We really gotta talk about how Democratically
controlled cities still pump and
pump and pump police budgets,” Ocasio-
Cortez said in an Instagram live post Tuesday.
“Budgets are moral documents. Th ey
communicate our priorities and so long as
healthcare is not number one, healthcare is
not our highest priority; so long as education
is not number one, education is not our
highest priority; and so long as weaponry
remains our top thing, that’s our number
one priority.”
Dannelly Rodriguez, an Astoria organizer
with the Justice for All Coalition, agreed that
the guilty verdict doesn’t alleviate nor assess
the underlying conditions caused by bloated
police budgets.
“Defunding is about public safety, abolition,
reinvesting in community — investing
in housing, education and healthcare for all,”
Rodriguez said. “At the end of the day, we can
send this cop to jail and it might restore some
sense of law and order for some folks in the
country and the world, but that sense of law
and order is fundamentally problematic.”
Jessica, a member of the Bayside Black
Lives Matter group, took the moment to
thank the organizers and every person willing
to have diffi cult conversations on the
daily injustices Black people face.
“When we started protesting 330 days
ago, we knew that the opposition in this
neighborhood would be strong. We received
numerous death threats, have had members
doxxed on social media, witnessed local
police brutalize protesters while allowing
their supporters to commit assault and
leave a scene unscathed,” Jessica said. “What
we also found is that we are capable of the
change we seek. We at Bayside BLM urge the
community to understand that Black Lives
Matter is much more than a protest. It’s a
call to action across the board.”
Demonstrations throughout New York City followed Dereck Chauvin’s conviction on April 20.
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