‘It gives me hope.’ Maconites react to Derek Chauvin’s murder conviction
Tuesday afternoon, a Minnesota jury found former police officer Derek Chauvin guilty of all charges in the death of George Floyd. Chauvin was found guilty of second and third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter and will be sentenced in two months.
The Telegraph spoke with Middle Georgians who led rallies, marches and protests last year following the killings of Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor to get their perspective on Chauvin’s guilty verdict and what it means for the country moving forward.
Courageous conversations
Last May, Nancy Cleveland spoke at a prayer event in Macon’s Rosa Parks Square, reflecting on both recent tragedies and the Tulsa Greenwood Massacre and calling for sustained change. Tuesday, Cleveland said she was following Chauvin’s trial with a group of friends, texting with throughout the day, and watched the verdict with them on a Zoom call.
“I hoped they would find him guilty, I was so worried they were going to let him off,” she said. “It was a moment of pure joy and celebration. I don’t even know how to feel. How I feel now compared to a year ago is almost a one-eighty in many ways.”
Cleveland said she called her mother as soon as the verdict was read.
“As soon as she answered, she said ‘They found him guilty.’ It’s a moment of shock. I hope everyone feels the gravity of the moment and celebrates along with us. It’s overwhelming, it does feel like vindication, like the country is listening.”
Moving forward, Cleveland said she hopes there continues to be consistent change, that people are willing to have “courageous conversations” about healing from the past, moving forward, and what that means and avoid “performative allyship.”
“If you’re going to listen to people who have truly been affected by the problem, and they come up with their own solutions, and you don’t back them, you’re not listening,” she said, adding its important for companies to continue to hire people of color and promote them to executive positions.
‘I’m so happy’
Derian Wilson, who for months last summer in the wake of Floyd’s death and on into the fall staged a one-man protest for racial justice on a north Macon sidewalk, said the verdict surprised him.
“I didn’t think that it was gonna turn out this way, but I’m so amazingly thankful that it did,” Wilson said Tuesday by phone, minutes after the jury’s decision was read.
Wilson, 21, attracted attention from across the region as he stood for hours each day in front of the Tom Hill Sr. Boulevard Chick-fil-A where he worked, holding a “Black Lives Matter” sign for passing motorists to see.
He now works at the fast food chain’s Bass Road location and has recently continued his protest outside that restaurant. Wilson has said he chose to stand there, in part, because he knows the people inside, his co-workers, “have my back.”
Wilson said he watched Tuesday’s verdict on his phone at work.
“I’m at a loss for words, I’m so happy,” he said.
“It gives me hope. It gives me a lot of hope because there’s change. Change is coming. There’s progress being made and being able to see that is inspiring.”
Slow progress
Macon artist and former Mercer football player Caleb Brown was active in protests last summer: he marched in Atlanta and Macon and organized an event with fellow Mercer alumni called Breaking Beariers at Tattnall Park to raise money for members of Middle Georgia’s Black communities impacted by systemic racism and police brutality.
He said he didn’t know how to feel after the verdict; he was in disbelief, the feeling was so new.
“It’s definitely progress,” he said, “But progress is so slow. It’s proof that progress can happen. But speaking from an African American perspective, it’s one thing to hold people accountable, to start putting the bad guys in jail. The part that pokes at Black folks is that a person thought that was acceptable. Even though [Chauvin] is going to jail, it shouldn’t have happened in the first place.”
Brown said he knows that some people will be incensed by the verdict; they’ll believe Chauvin was found guilty due to public pressure .
“That’s such a warped perspective,” he said. “I don’t think any African Americans are going to get complacent. The trust gap is so large, I’m not about to let my guard down.”
Brown said he feels like the disconnect in America is reaching a crescendo in America, one that began, for him, with the killing of Trayvon Martin when Brown was a senior in high school.
“You have all these glaring tests that America has failed,” he said. “Before [Martin’s killing], I didn’t feel that tension; now it’s like everybody is looking over their shoulder. Do we have time to get the changes in place before we just implode? I think I owe it to add to the healing on both sides as best I can.
“For my generation, if we can just move the ball forward a little bit, if we do our part today, I think our living has not been in vain. We have to be as patient as we can without being complacent. Eventually, we’ll solve this, but I don’t have hope it’s going to happen in my lifetime.”
Everyone has been on edge
School counselor and activist Andréa Glover was one of hundreds of Middle Georgians who marched through downtown Macon last June. She addressed protesters with a megaphone in one hand and an armful of voter registration forms, urging protesters to register in advance of the November election.
Tuesday, Glover said Chauvin’s guilty verdict meant a chance to take a breath.
“We could not get a moment of peace for over a year,” she said. “Everyone has been on edge. It does feel like a moment where we get to take a deep breath, finally there is an opportunity to see justice served for not only George Floyd, but for all the individuals in our communities who have experienced some type of violence since the killing of George Floyd.”
Glover said she hopes Chauvin’s verdict is a wake-up call, the start of conversations about what happened and how important the verdict is.
“This is one moment. We can appreciate this one moment,” Glover said. “I think it’s a win for the community and for Black Lives Matter. I hope it is a win for the United States.
“We want to see a continual movement. We want to go far beyond just this particular verdict.”
This story was originally published April 20, 2021 at 6:45 PM.
