“This is our Selma moment,” said NAACP president Derrick Johnson, citing the event in which Alabama marchers headed to the state capitol in Montgomery were attacked by state troopers with nightsticks and tear gas, an incident that ultimately sparked passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Around the country, as celebrations erupted Tuesday following Derek Chauvin’s guilty verdict for the murder of George Floyd, those on the front lines of fighting for racial justice said the verdict represents a likely boon for the movement going forward, an impetus for systemic change on par with major events of the 1960s.
The moment, Johnson said, has the potential to similarly galvanize support for the George Floyd Police Reform Act, a 2020 measure targeting police misconduct, excessive force and racial bias in policing.
“This should be a catalyst,” Johnson said. “It is an opportunity for Congress to do what’s necessary to make sure our communities can have trust in police agencies and feel safe.”
Around the country, as celebrations erupted Tuesday following Derek Chauvin’s guilty verdict for the murder of George Floyd, those on the front lines of fighting for racial justice said the verdict represents a likely boon for the movement going forward, an impetus for systemic change on par with major events of the 1960s.
As she watched the verdict at home with her kids, Abdullah said her emotions took her by surprise: Not just relief and elation, but a sense of faith. in the people who she said had helped make it possible.
“It’s an affirmation of the work that’s been put in over the last year,” she said. “Since the moment George Floyd’s life was stolen, people have taken to the streets and issued demands, and what we have seen in this moment is that that bears fruit, that organizing works. We can not only reform but transform the system.”
