Derek Chauvin was found guilty of all charges for the murder of George Floyd.
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Black people rejoiced in the moments after the verdicts were announced because we had been holding our collective breath all morning, afraid to hope for a guilty verdict and expecting Chauvin to walk.
Chauvin didn’t walk, so it’s justice, right?
Baby, what looks like justice is just accountability on an ordinary day.
If there were justice, George Floyd would still be alive.
If there were justice, cops wouldn’t feel so comfortable committing murder on the job.
If there were justice, cops would face stiffer penalties for the unnecessary use of force.
If there were justice, more cops would be held accountable.
What looks like justice is just accountability on an ordinary day.
The Chauvin case is an anomaly. One cop sacrificed at the altar so the criminal justice system can turn to Black people and say, “You happy now, bitch?”
They held this one accountable, finally, but he is one of many; there are too many who have not been held accountable, and that ratio is too damn high.
The judge said Chauvin will be sentenced in eight weeks, but it is highly likely his legal team will appeal his guilty convictions, and they have 90 days to do so.
In the meantime, what we are left with is a hollow “victory,” if you can even call it that, because around the same time the verdict was announced, a police officer in Columbus, Ohio, shot and killed a 16-year-old Black girl.
If there were such a thing as justice, Ma’Khia Bryant and George Floyd would still be alive.
What we got in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder at the hands of Derek Chauvin wasn’t justice. What we got was accountability. It may feel like justice, but it’s not.
It is just one lonely brick on the unpaved road to justice.
Straight From 
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