The Former Police Officer is found guilty on all 3 counts for the killing of George Floyd
Video from BlackNewsChannel / Youtube
The jury in the Derek Chauvin trial for the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis took a day to find Chauvin guilty on all 3 counts he was charged with. He was charged with second degree murder and second degree manslaughter as well as third degree murder and today justice was served.
We knew this trial was not just a trial of Derek Chauvin but also a trial on how America's progress. We believed that the days of police brutality were long gone but the famous video shot by an 18 yr old showing Chauvin's knee on Floyd's neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds proved to us that the days of police killings are still here and in a lot of cases the police get off from being tried and convicted or in most cases just being tried. This Chauvin trial and outcome finally has given us precedent that police officers cannot and should be above the law when it comes to being held accountable for the unlawful killing or maiming of citizens they are sworn to protect.
Here in our city of Montreal, just this week a video went viral where a Black woman was repeatedly punched while on the ground by a metro security officer for allegedly not paying her ticket fare. There were two security officials who had the woman pinned down, was there a need to be punching as well? All this for a a fare of $3.25? We cannot look to America every time and say at least it's not here. It happens here and there are viral videos and anecdotal stories from Black folks in Montreal to make you understand that we need to ensure that even though this is not a common occurrence in our part of the world, it is still an issue and we need to show just as much intensity here as would for an incident happening thousands of miles away.
Whether you write about it or march about it, all voices matter when it comes to making change. We are still waiting for more accountability in regards to Montreal Police. We are waiting for at least body cams to become part of their equipment. We are waiting for true plans on how police here are trained to deal with the multiculturalism of Montreal and its different communities and we want to know that our police here are being trained on how to deescalate situations in an atmosphere that does not pose a deadly threat to them.
We know even in our own city that the failure of Montreal police to do these things makes the possibility of a George Floyd happening in Montreal all too real. Just ask the new community of Black drivers in Quebec who have formed an association of Black drivers due to the amount of Black drivers being pulled over for nothing in Quebec. We know what can happen to Black people when it comes to traffic stops. We have seen it all too often.
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