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If There Was Any Justice, George Floyd Would Still Be Alive
Justice is about more than treating the symptoms, we have to address the virus of White supremacy.
Today marks the one-year anniversary of the horrific murder of George Floyd. It felt as though a collective sigh of relief was heard around the world when Derek Chauvin, the former Minnesota police officer who killed Floyd after kneeling on his neck for over nine minutes, was convicted of Floyd’s murder.
Although I was pleased with the trial’s outcome, I refuse to treat Chauvin’s conviction and the many calls for justice that followed Floyd’s death as anything more than what they are — a deadly police officer being held accountable for a murder he committed. Chauvin’s conviction is not an indication of justice being served for George Floyd. If Floyd had justice, he would still be alive.
As I reflect on Floyd’s death and the subsequent protests and demands made for Black lives, I can’t help but be encouraged by the momentum created in the fight against anti-Blackness. But I also often find myself giving a sharp side-eye to some of the sorry performative calls for justice that only scratch the surface of racism in America.
Justice is not a favor, a miracle, a handout, or a kind gesture. Justice should lie at the center of how the country is governed and how its citizens are treated.
By definition, the term justice — in its broadest sense — refers to people receiving what they deserve. So, to be clear: justice is not a favor, a miracle, a handout, or a kind gesture. Justice should drive policing, ground law enforcement, and shape the judicial system. Furthermore, justice should lie at the center of how the country is governed and how its citizens are treated. For me, justice is more than rogue police officers facing just consequences for abusing Black bodies.
Justice is also not abolishing the police, ensuring accessible educational opportunities to students of color, the end of red zoning and gentrification, or reparations. Justice does not exist in a silo. Instead, it is the complete decentering of whiteness and inevitably…
