Derek Chauvin pleaded guilty on Wednesday to charges of violating George Floyd’s civil rights.
Chauvin had previously pleaded not guilty to violating Floyd’s constitutional rights when he arrested Floyd and killed him after kneeling on his neck for nearly 10 minutes last spring in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Floyd’s murder sparked international outrage and kicked off the largest nationwide protests for racial justice seen in decades.
We must hold white supremacy accountable and, in doing so, take a hard look in the mirror as white Americans.
Derek Chauvin was always going to have a tough time defending his actions during his trial. The video of him kneeling on George Floyd was damning and was going to be almost impossible to explain away.
In the end, the decision was made to not have the former police officer answer questions on the stand. That does not mean, however, that Chauvin didn’t try to plead his case in other ways. One alternate juror says that the ex-cop attempted to intimidate her with constant stares.
Lisa Christensen recently spoke about the experience with CBS This Morning’s Jamie Yuccas. She told the host, “Every time I would look up, he was right in my vision, so we locked eyes quite a few times, and I was pretty uncomfortable.”
The alternate juror continued by commending prosecution witness Dr. Martin Tobin, “He explained everything. I understood it down to where he said, ‘this is moment that he lost his life,’ um, really got to me.”
EXCLUSIVE: An alternate juror in the #DerekChauvinTrial sits down with @jamieyuccas.
Lisa Christensen did not have a role in the verdict, but she sat through every minute of the trial.
She says even though she wasn't part of the deliberations — she came to a decision. pic.twitter.com/oREghd4OKm
Representative Maxine Waters‘s (D-Calif.) statements ahead of Derek Chauvin’s conviction for the murder of George Floyd were not unlike the intimidation tactics employed by the Ku Klux Klan, says attorney and conservative firebrand Alan Dershowitz.
“Her message was clearly intended to get to the jury,” Dershowitz said
during an interview with Newsmax. “‘If you acquit or you find the charge anything less than murder, we will burn down your buildings, we will burn down your businesses, we will attack you.'”
Omaha radio host Chris Baker, the host of a conservative program on KFAB Radio, sparked controversy after he posted a tweet about Derek Chauvin’s guilty verdict with a gif of four Black loincloth-wearing tribesmen dancing in celebration.
Baker later deleted the tweet amid backlash, but screenshots continued to circulate on social media, including one taken by state Senator John McCollister, who represents an Omaha district.
“Racism like this is a FEATURE of conservative talk radio but they usually mask it with dog whistles,” McCollister wrote. “But not this time.”
This is a tweet that was posted then quickly deleted by Nebraska radio host @CBakerShow when the verdict was announced in the Derek Chauvin trial.
Racism like this is a FEATURE of conservative talk radio but they usually mask it with dog whistles.
But not this time. @kfabnews pic.twitter.com/3lr5TFyBhi
The George Floyd murder brought forth a wave of activism across the country. Millions of Americans took to the streets to demand justice.
The murder also affected the world of sports. Players used their power to cancel games so the importance of the situation could be recognized. And many players of color spoke passionately about how they were affected by police brutality.
The players who held Conservative views mostly stayed silent. But today, Brett Favre gave his opinion on the Chauvin verdict. The Packers legend said that he didn’t think the police officer meant to kill George Floyd.
The Hall of Fame quarterback made the comments on his weekly podcast. He told listeners:
“I find it hard to believe – and I’m not defending Derek Chauvin in any way – I find it hard to believe, first of all, that he intentionally meant to kill George Floyd. That being said, his actions were uncalled for. I don’t care what color the person is on the street. You do not … I don’t know what led to that video that we saw where his knee is on his neck, but the man had thrown in the towel.”
https://twitter.com/TorreySmithWR/status/1384955277078892546
Attorney General Merrick Garland is expected to announce that the Department of Justice (DOJ) will launch an investigation into the policing practices of law enforcement in Minneapolis.
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The investigation will examine practices used by police, including the use of force, and whether the department engages in discriminatory practices, according to the person. It will also look into the department’s handling of misconduct allegations
Donald Trump has never been shy about opining on pretty much any subject. It’s part of what made him relevant in the days before he ended politics. In addition to his claims about Barack Obama’s birth certificate, he also weighed in on things like the break-up of Kristen Stewart and Rob Pattinson.
And he didn’t really stop tweeting in this manner when he was president. Trump, of course, attacked any news anchor who criticized him in any way. But he also went after Arnold Schwarzenegger for his low ratings on The Apprentice.
And while Trump opined on any and every subject, his press secretary Kayleigh McEnany was happy to walk alongside him in lock-step. So it was pretty hypocritical on Tuesday to hear the now Fox pundit say that Joe Biden should not have taled about the Derek Chauvin case.
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I’m glad that he at least waited until the jury was sequestered,” McEnany whined. “But I think that the country is such a tinderbox right now, especially Minneapolis. There’s so much hurt, so much pain.”
Much of the conversation about the Derek Chauvin case this week has been centered on what might happen if he were to be acquitted. Many worried that there could be serious unrest on the streets.
What wasn’t really discussed, though, was how police officers may react to a guilty verdict. That was a topic of conversation between Nicolle Wallace and Eddie Glaude following the announcement.
Wallace began the conversation by saying, “If we are being honest with ourselves, we know true justice is about much more than a single verdict in a single trial.”
Glaude responded to the comment,
“My stomach has been in knots. I have been telling you this, Nicolle. This is a moment of relief, but it is an inaugural
When George Floyd was murdered by Derek Chauvin last summer, there was essentially no one willing to defend him. Even the talking heads on Fox News recognized how clear the evidence was against the officer.
But once the murder trial began, Fox anchors became more willing to come out and paint Chauvin as a victim. Tucker Carlson went as far as saying that it was actually the police officer who was being lynched.
Not surprisingly, some on the Fox panel did not react well the the announcement that Chauvin was found guilty on all 3 charges. And this was especially true of Greg Gutfeld.
The host told viewers:
“I guess so the media could play to the narrative that a miracle America is full of racist rubes to make their viewers feel superior but this wasn’t a divisive case, and I think it’s a contrast between the reality of Americans who were experiencing this all at once and then manufacture an environment of the people who create the news which is that this reflects a racist country, it reflects racial division, it means the cops are all racist, it’s not a bug in the system, is the system itself, that was what was creating the perception of division, everybody agrees that the case was disgusting and ugly, another story being played a lot, I’m glad that he was found guilty on all charges, even if he might not be guilty of all charges, I am glad that he is guilty of all charges because I want a verdict that keeps this country from going up in flames.”
Greg Gutfeld: "I'm glad [Chauvin] was found guilty on all charges, even if he might not be guilty of all charges. I am glad that he is guilty of all charges because I want a verdict that keeps this country from going up in flames." (Note the groans from his Fox News colleagues.) pic.twitter.com/DulsFEMwcO
Representative Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) refused to back down amid criticism from her Republican colleagues after she addressed protesters following the police shooting of Daunte Wright in Minneapolis, Minnesota as the nation waits for the murder trial of Derek Chauvin for the death of George Floyd to conclude.
Waters had said
that if Chauvin is not found guilty, “we’ve got to stay on the street, and we’ve got to get more active. We’ve got to get more confrontational. We’ve got to make sure that they know that we mean business.”
On Monday, the hosts of The View addressed both the Derek Chauvin trial and recent comments by Maxine Waters. The California congresswoman said that if the officer was acquitted, protesters need to, “make sure they know that we mean busines.”
Meghan McCain, the Conservative talking head on the show, took umbrage with the comments. Last summer, McCain was caught lying about violent protests outside of her New York City apartment.
That did not stop her, however, from claiming that last year’s demonstrations, “didn’t play well with Democrats among suburban women.” McCain continued, “[I believe in] peaceful protesting all day every day, it’s an integral part of an American pastime, I think the second it becomes violent, you lose a lot of people on the message that is really really important right now.”
Whoopi Golberg countered the comments, saying:
“Right, well 99 percent of the people who protest out there are not violent. We do find that there are people who are burning and looting stuff, people need to be very aware of who they are and where they are at any given time. I personally would prefer that we didn’t have oodles and oodles of videotape of officers getting ready to go out and fight the protestors, because I feel like people want it to happen. I don’t feel like people in power – if they really cared about all of this, they would have come to the aid of the protestors and said let’s work on this before it got as far as it did last summer.”
https://twitter.com/TheView/status/1384203017289752576
In the next week, there will be a verdict on the Derek Chauvin case. Historically, police officers have not been acquitted in cases like this one. There is, however a cautious optimism that the Minnesota police officer will be convicted.
During a Sunday appearance on CNN, Representative Jim Clyburn explained that a guilty verdict in this case could be the start to real police reforms.
Host Pamela Brown asked, “What is your reaction to what is going on in Minneapolis tonight as America awaits the verdict of the Chauvin trial?”
The South Carolina lawmaker answered:
“I am like everybody else, anxiously awaiting this verdict. I do believe that what we saw with our own eyes all over the world, quite frankly, was a lynching taking place. George Floyd was lynched. That’s just plain and simple. We have got to bring this kind of stuff to an end. It could very well be this verdict [is what triggers reforms].”
https://twitter.com/politicususa/status/1383929468125810696
What we need to recognize is that when returned these verdicts will not just tell us about these individual cases; they will foretell whether we are moving toward a political culture of accountability to the nation’s stated ideals.
On May 25th of 2020, George Floyd died of injuries he suffered during an arrest. And the arrest was caught on video. Officer Derek Chauvin became infamous as America saw video of him casually kneeling on Floyd’s neck with his hand in his pocket.
The killing led to mass protests around the country. And Americans have waited to see Chauvin face trial. Monday saw the start of that trial and coverage of it has dominated cable news.
Fox News‘ coverage of the event has largely focused on defending the officers and slamming Floyd. Tucker Carlson took it to an entirely new level on Monday night.
Carlson claimed that
CNN
