I HAD A FRONT-ROW SEAT AT THE CHAUVIN CONVICTION. HERE’S WHAT WHITE ALLIES NEED TO UNDERSTAND ABOUT THIS TRIAL.
After less than 24 hours of deliberation, the jury announced that they had a verdict for Derek Chauvin, the former police officer who went on trial for the murder of George Floyd. Downtown Minneapolis became a giant traffic jam as everyone left to avoid potential unrest.
I live 2 blocks away from where the verdict was going to be announced. With my friend, I headed over there. In the crowd, major news networks were as present as activists and supporters. Beside me were press reporters from Australia and England. The plaza where my neighbor takes her dogs out was the center of the world at that moment.
Then, a crowd that buzzed with roars and shouts of “Black Lives Matter! Say His Name — George Floyd!” went silent. Silent.
I heard a voice — “Guilty.”
Guilty. Guilty — guilty? GUILTY! GUILTY!
Everyone erupts.
When do people shout in joy and triumph like this? Moments like the moon landing? Winning the Super Bowl? The 2020 Election? Moments like that may come close, but this was not just joy — this was relief. This was the beginning of healing, of centuries of healing. And the beginning of more work to come.
And there’s the distinction.
After the 2020 election when Biden won, I recall people celebrating in the streets without trepidation. Yes, they acknowledged that there was a lot to do to improve our country, but they celebrated. At the Chauvin trial, people honked their car horns and yelled and cried and let out triumphant “Black Lives Matter” chants, but they also took to the streets again. “We’re not done,” they’d remind us. “Remember Daunte Wright. This is the beginning.”
My friend, who has gone to as many protests as I have in the past year, said, “I know saying all of that is important…but can we have a moment of celebration? Can it last a little bit longer?” She took that statement back when she remembered the perspective that she was looking from.
People are celebrating. They also need to reflect on centuries of disenfranchisement. That was the major underlying theme of this verdict. We are making progress, but we still have work to do.
Let me set this trial aside for a moment and tell you a story. When I was in college, someone drew an obscenely racist drawing on a whiteboard in a dorm hall common room. There was going to be a meeting at the student union addressing this. I was walking to this meeting after class with a friend of mine, who is Black. At the time of walking, it’s dark — around 7, 7:30.
She said something that I want every white person to note.
“I’m tired,” she said. “I’m so tired of all of this. I was looking forward to going back to my dorm and watching Netflix.”
Absorb that for a moment.
What she just said reflects an exhaustion that white people will never understand. For us, to be present in times of racial injustice is considered optional. For her and all Black Americans, it’s mandatory.
She has to go to this meeting instead of rest and watch TV.
Now back to the trial.
What was this trial saying in relation to race? In relation to how it affects BIPOC people versus white people?
This was only the second time that a police officer was convicted guilty in Minnesota for murder and a significant turning point for police brutality and systemic racism in this country. Yes, a victory — but also a disgrace that it took this long.
Nancy Pelosi said that George Floyd “sacrificed his life for justice” for this victory. It is this patronizing “I’m a good ally because I recognize that this is bad! Don’t worry, Black people, your trauma is ‘justified’” attitude that white people really need to stop.
Black people are not martyrs for racial injustice, as Speaker Pelosi implied. George Floyd was killed and he shouldn’t have been, end of story. White people are not good allies for recognizing that his death was unjust. They need to speak up about this injustice and play an active part in stopping it. That means listening to BIPOC folx, understanding that mistakes will be made in our allyship and correcting ourselves, taking our knowledge to inform other white people, peacefully taking to the streets to speak out against this, calling our legislators and city officials, and donating to causes centered towards ending racial injustice.
A notable fact about white privilege in this country is that they do not have to think about their race on a daily basis because their race does not affect them. However, this privilege needs to be acknowledged by white people if any progress is to be made. As Ibram X. Kendi said in his novel How to Be An Anti-Racist, “What’s the problem with being ‘not racist’? It is a claim that signifies neutrality: ‘I am not a racist, but neither am I aggressively against racism.’ But there is no neutrality in the racism struggle. The opposite of ‘racist’ isn’t ‘not racist.’ It is ‘antiracist’.”
Our fight — and it is our fight, not Black people’s fight or BIPOC’s fight — is ongoing. White allies must understand that activism shouldn’t be performative — activism should be active. It’s not optional either, because as I see it and hopefully as everyone should too — oppression stops when the oppressors stop.
Walking in the Black Lives Matter crowd after the verdict, a guy came up to my friend and me and said something along the lines of, “Today, man, white people are all right!”
Let’s keep going, now.
