Reggie Jackson, a Milwaukee historian, is head griot of America s Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee:
The wait is nearly over, but it will be two months before the judge sentences former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. As people around the country rejoice in the verdict, I remind them that the sentencing might disappoint them, and Chauvin will likely appeal the verdict. To celebrate now makes some sense, but it is a premature celebration of the effort to fix policing in America.
It is in many ways like a baseball player who hits a homer on the first pitch he faces in the first game of spring training celebrating as if he has won the World Series. It feels good to see an officer who killed an unarmed Black civilian be found guilty. Let’s keep in mind how rare this is. It is rare for officers who kill unarmed Black people to be charged. A conviction is even more rare. An appropriate sentence even more rare.
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