Derek Chauvin Trial Verdict ‘Just the Beginning’ for Police Reform

(KNSI) — Now that the verdict has been read in the Derek Chauvin trial, community activists say the work toward reform is just beginning.

Venessa Fuentes, director of the Headwaters Foundation for Justice, says the window is open to speak up and take action.

“Whether you’re on the front lines, on the streets moving justice forward, or whether you’re on the backend of the movement and resourcing from a different place. Whatever your skill sets are, whatever your talents are – we all have a role to play.”

At the State Capitol, police accountability groups are applying more pressure on lawmakers to adopt a host of reform measures.

Outside the Hennepin County Courthouse, local activist Artise Mayfield called the verdict a big step forward but added it doesn’t simply erase the longstanding problems the Black community has dealt with.

“Actions definitely needed to be taken after this. It’s not even changed that he’s on trial, police are still killing people.”

She also points to the death of Daunte Wright in nearby Brooklyn Center this month at the hands of police, even after all the awareness raised with Floyd’s death.

Outside the Brooklyn Center Police Department Tuesday night, there was a party-like atmosphere with people dancing in the street outside the police station, waving flags and chanting. That space had been the site of days and days of protests – at some times violent protests – following the shooting death of Wright by former Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter.

Potter is now charged with second-degree manslaughter in that case.

One gentleman we spoke with in Brooklyn Center after the verdict said that the change everyone speaks of comes down to knowing who lives in your neighborhood, knowing your neighbor, and checking on your neighbors. He urged people to watch out for their neighbors’ kids and get “good kids hooked up with at-risk kids” to show them a life of crime is “not the way.” He also stressed the importance of talking to each other. Scanning the crowd of maybe 50 or so people gathered outside the police department, he said that “if we the people can come together like this and celebrate, we can come together in other ways to make change and heal.”

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