Students gather, reflect on Chauvin’s guilty verdict
A jury convicted former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin of murder and manslaughter in the death of George Floyd on the afternoon of April 20th. Chauvin was unanimously found guilty of unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree mansalughter.
The trial began March 29th. After hearing three weeks of testimony from witnesses, the jury deliberated for over ten hours.
Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, was killed by Chauvin, a white man, on May 25, 2020 in Minneapolis. A convenience store employee had called the police to report that Floyd used a counterfeit bill. The police, including Chauvin, arrested the unarmed Floyd and pinned him to the ground within 17 minutes of arriving at the scene. Chauvin pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds, well past the point at which Floyd went unconscious.
The four police officers involved in Floyd’s murder were fired on May 26, 2020. The other three, J Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao, will face trials in August.
Floyd’s murder was captured on video by 17 year old Darnella Frazier. His murder sparked protests in Minneapolis, around the country, and across the world and conversations about reforming or abolishing the police and anti-Black racism beyond policing.
It came in the context of countless other police killings of unarmed Black Americans, including but not limited to Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery that same summer.
These killings have not stopped. Twenty year old Daunte Wright was killed just days ago on April 11 in Brooklyn Center, a Minneapolis suburb.
The Colby community gathered on Miller lawn at 5:30 on April 20 to mark the occasion of Chauvin’s conviction.
Dean Karlene Burrell-McRae `94 wrote to the Colby community that “in light of today’s forthcoming verdict in the murder trial of Derek Chauvin—and the impact of George Floyd’s killing, the trial, and the verdict on our community, particularly our Black and brown students, faculty, and staff—we will gather together tonight.”
President David Greene, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Professor of African-American Studies and Sociology Cheryl Townsend Gilkes, Dean Burrell-McRae, and Dean of Religious and Spiritual Life Kate Smanik all spoke at the gathering.
Black students were invited to join together to process the events of the day and the past months following the gathering in Miller Library and allies were invited to the Kassman Auditorium.
Colby Athletics cancelled afternoon practices so that student athletes could attend the gathering to process the verdict.
Dean Burrel-McRae asked that students remain sensitive towards the needs of their peers at this time.
“We hope you will look out for one another and treat each other with care, respect, and compassion,” she wrote.
~ Sonia Lachter `22
