Verdict in Floyd death draws strong reaction

Apr. 20—SOUTHERN INDIANA — Although some Southern Indiana social justice advocates say the guilty-on-all-counts verdict Tuesday in the trial of a former Minneapolis police officer in the death of George Floyd shows justice prevailed, there is much work still to be done.

Nicole Yates, president of the New Albany chapter of the NAACP, watched the trial with anxiety but said she believed that in the end, the jury would come to the decision it did.

"Our very right to breathe was on trial," she said. "Lots of folks are saying 'thank you Jesus, thank you, Lord' and they are to be commended — the jurors — for doing their jobs."

She added that while she is a woman of faith who trusted the right thing would happen, "what I don't have is faith in the system."

Yates said there need to be changes starting at the federal level — there are significant hurdles when it comes to prosecuting officers for unconstitutional acts, she said.

"Current laws require evidence that an officer intended to kill someone," she said. "But the standard should call for prosecution when an officer is reckless and kills in a brutal manner."

Phil Ellis, executive director at Community Action of Southern Indiana, said he was elated that justice had prevailed, but that he's skeptical for what's to come.

"Because we got one guilty verdict, what's going to happen with the future?" he said. "We still have a way to go with police reform."

Ellis, who is Black, said he believes a large percentage of officers in America have racist views that color their work, particularly when it comes to interactions with Black men.

"[Police] don't understand them, they're afraid of them and that's why [Black men] are killed," Ellis said. What he wants to see is a more diverse policing system, incorporating other disciplines such as sociology and the faith community.

Ellis said he felt deep in his heart that justice would hold in this case, which he and others attribute to the video of Floyd's death that sparked widespread protests across the U.S. and beyond following his May 2020 death. The video was also a major piece of evidence during the trial.

"They were able to see firsthand that he knelt on his neck for nine minutes and killed him," Ellis said. "As long as they can see it or touch it, they can believe it."

This evidence, he said, is what joined millions, regardless of race or ethnicity, in protesting Floyd's death, and others in the year, including Breonna Taylor killed in March 2020 by Louisville police.

"I think it's going to take this to make things start to turn around and know that America — White, Black brown — is not going to sit back and let this happen," he said. "That gives me confidence that America is standing up for who America really is."

Clark County resident Evan Stoner was glad to see closure in the case — "I am happy to see the American justice system work the way that it should and due process played out and there is a trial and the jury came to a conclusion," he said.

But unlike Ellis and some others, Stoner said it is dangerous and unproductive to paint with a broad brush "when you start blaming all law enforcement and saying all law enforcement are bad."

He said when he first saw the clip of Floyd's death, "[Like] the majority of Americans as well as the majority of law enforcement, I was extremely disturbed."

Stoner wants to see leadership at the local, state and federal level who can bring together Americans from all backgrounds — including law enforcement and communities of color — "to come together and talk about now moving forward to policies to make sure that what we saw happen to George Floyd will never happen to anyone else."

Missy Smith, volunteer with the Louisville Community Bail Fund who co-leads an anti-racism group at Highland Baptist Church in Louisville, said she could not have seen any other outcome for the jury to have reached.

"There's no way that the jury who was truly paying attention, regardless of whether he was a police officer, could think that he did anything but murder that man," she said. "So yes his guilty verdict was the right thing but we can't rely on a broken system to fix what is already broken."

She wants to see communities come together to rebuild an equitable system, and that "We really need to start listening and looking toward Black leadership," she said. "We cannot center ourselves and we can't center white voices constantly. It's very important to pay attention to Black voices, what are they calling for us to do, and follow that leadership."

What Antia Fields, president of the Clark County NAACP sees is a need for more continued conversations to foster change.

"I think that this should set a precedent that every community needs to work together...law enforcement and the community," she said. "I think this is a prime example that killing black people at the hands of policemen or whoever that will be, retribution will be swift. I think that clearly has been demonstrated.

"It also send the message to local police and the community that we need to work hand in hand on any kind of problem or occurrences that we feel could get out of hand; we need to nip it in the bud right away."