Juror, why did you convict the killer. You know who he was. Brag about taking his life. He said i could not imagine going to jail for killing a its time for a fundamental change. I want to thank, johnny cochran, ben crump, thank you so much. Thank you. He believed it couldnt happen. Never happened before. Including governor, attorney general keith ellison. Keith took the case and charged the first day. He put together the legal team, jurors, whole process led by keith ellison. Keith ellison. Minnesota state with great proud traditions, brother ben. Its about wrong and right. Massive protests. 1964, those who fought down through the years. When i think about the congresswoman, people in this state speak back, fight back. I want to express thanks to all of you. People on the team of keith, black and white, and we must learn to live together as brothers, live together. We will live together. I want to express my thank you all those that come together today because were going to keep marching. Brother wright, we cant celebrate because the killings keep coming. This case should break the backbone of legal lynching. They have lynched us with the law. Thank you very much. Lastly, before we get to the questions, and let me acknowledge, again, tamika, reverend jamal bryant, and all of the young people that kept it going. Aint no sun between these generations. Anybody thinks so, get up and work out with me in the morning. National president of the National Urban league, brother mark moreal. Thank you very much. Thank you. First of all, i want to be brief, but let me cosign, amen,
and reaffirm all that has been said today. This conviction. Thats mark moreal of the urban league of the National Urban league speaking right now. Youre seeing a very rare sight, the family of george floyd, supporters and civil rights leaders, including reverend al sharpton, reverend Jesse Jackson and others on a day in which something that does not normally happen happened. The conviction of Derek Chauvin. Former Police Officer in minneapolis for killing george floyd. It is an exceptionally rare event. I want to let you all know that the president of the United States joe biden and the Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris is set to speak imminently, which is why im breaking in so we can transition to that as soon as they begin. While we wait for the president and Vice President to speak, i want to introduce our team thats going to start this off on the coverage here tonight. Katie fang, our msnbc legal
contributor. Paul butler, an msnbc legal contributor, and Glenn Kirschner and i want each of you to talk about this case, the prosecutors, paul, jerry blackwell, matthew frank, aaron eldridge, won a very rare victory here on behalf of the floyd family, your thoughts on this prosecution and the outcome . 45 witnesses, three weeks of testimony, a victory decades, centuries in the make. It was the state versus Derek Chauvin, the police and legal system were not on trial but because black people have been denied due process and equal protection of law for so long, trials can actually serve as a rough measure of progress. Joy, i think given the evidence presented by the prosecution, if there had not been a conviction, there would be legitimate
questions about when a Police Officer could ever be brought to justice for killing a black man. But fewer than ten officers have been convicted of murder in the last 15 years. If this is the beginning of holding Police Officers accountable, its long past time. But its still a really good day for equal justice under the law. I think thats a really good point because the other thing that seemed to be on trial was the kind of defense mounted for Derek Chauvin, vilifying the dead black man and saying essentially that he had super human strength, born of drug use, et cetera. That didnt work this time. And this is what i was hoping it was going to be, a send a message verdict. They took their job, duty, oath, to apply the facts and evidence in this case to the law that was specific to these charges. It totally said and sent a message, right, to the defense that old concept, that tired
racist trope of the big black man who does the drugs, and cannot ever achieve justice, that was kicked out the door today, and the other message that was sent was, you know what, theres going to be a day of reckoning for cops that dont abide by policies and procedures that have been set forth within their departments. Derek chauvin was tried, convicted and will be sentenced in eight weeks and then thats the other part were going to have to see, joy. What is he going to get for his sentence, and then in august, what are those three other officers that pending trial. Theyre being tried together, what are they going to do and that is a good question, you know, glenn, it was remarkable to see ten Police Officers take the stand against a fellow Police Officer. Ive never seen anything like that before. What do you think the message thats been sent, do you think that message ends up reverberating in a way that changes Law Enforcement or is this just sort of a momentary, you know, moment of justice for
this family. Do you think that it has reverberations after today . I do joy. I hope it resonates. What we had were good cops that stood up and broke the back of a bad cop. Thats one of the things its going to take. As a 30 year prosecutor, i worked with so many good cops, now that the good cops have license to step up. Indeed, im going to stop you here because the Vice President of the United States. Good evening, i want to thank the jury for their service and i want to thank mr. Floyds family for your steadfastness. Today, we feel a sigh of relief. Still, it cannot take away the pain. A measure of justice is not the same as equal justice. This verdict brings us a step closer and the fact is we still have work to do. We still must reform the system. Last summer, together with senator cory booker, and representative karen bass, i introduced the George Floyd Justice in policing act. This bill would hold Law Enforcement accountable and help build trust between Law Enforcement and our communities. This bill is part of George Floyds legacy. The president and i will continue to urge the senate to pass this legislation, not as a panacea for every problem, but as a start. This work is long overdue. America has a long history of systemic racism. Black americans and black men in particular have been treated throughout the course of our history as less than human. Black men are fathers and
brothers and sons and uncles and grandfathers, and friends and neighbors. Their lives must be valued in our education system, in our health care system, in our housing system, in our Economic System in our criminal Justice System in our nation. Full stop. Because of smartphones, so Many Americans have now seen the Racial Injustice that black americans have known for generations, the Racial Injustice that we have fought for generations, that my parents protested in the 1960s. That millions of us, americans of every race, protested last summer. Heres the truth about racial
injustice. It is not just a black america problem or a people of color problem. It is a problem for every american. It is keeping us from fulfilling the process of liberty and justice for all. And it is holding our nation back from realizing our full potential. We are all a part of George Floyds legacy. And our job now is to honor it and honor him. And now it is my great honor to introduce the president of the United States, joe biden. Today a jury in minnesota found former minneapolis Police OfficerDerek Chauvin guilty on all counts in the murder of george floyd last may. It was a murder in the full light of day and it ripped the blinders off for the whole world to see the systemic racism the Vice President just referred to. The systemic racism is a stain on our nations soul. A knee on the neck of justice for black americans, profound fear and trauma, the pain, the exhaustion that black and brown americans experience every single day. The murder of george floyd launched a summer of protest. We hadnt seen since the Civil Rights Era in the 60s. Protests that unified people of every race and generation in peace and with purpose. To say enough. Enough. Enough of this senseless killings. Todays verdict is a step forward. I just spoke to the governor of minnesota who thanked me for the close work with his team. And i also spoke with George Floyds family again. Remarkable family of extraordinary courage. Nothing can ever bring their brother, their father back. But this can be a giant step forward march toward justice in america. Lets also be clear, such a verdict is also much too rare. For so many people, it seems like it took a unique and
extraordinary convergence of factors, a brave young woman with a smartphone camera, a crowd that was traumatized, traumatized witnesses. A murder that lasts almost ten minutes in broad daylight for ultimately the whole world to see. Officers standing up and testifying against a fellow officer instead of you closing ranks, which should be commended. A jury who heard the evidence, carried out their civic duty in the midst of an extraordinary moment under extraordinary pressure. For so many it feels like it took all of that for the judicial system to deliver a just, just basic accountability. We saw how traumatic and
exhausting just watching the trial was for so many people. Think about it, think about how traumatic it was for you. You werent there. You didnt know any of the people. But it was difficult, especially for the witnesses who had to relive that day. Its a trauma. On top of the fears so many people of color live with every day when they go to sleep at night and pray for the safety of themselves and their loved ones. Again, as we saw in this trial from the fellow Police Officers who testified, most men and women who wear the badge serve their communities honorably. But those few who failed to meet that standard must be held accountable and they were today. One was. No one should be above the law. And todays verdict sends that
message. But its not enough. We cant stop here. In order to live a real change in reform, we can and we must do more to reduce the likelihood that tragedy like this will ever happen to occur again. To assure that black and brown people or anyone so they dont fear the interactions with Law Enforcement that they dont have to wake up knowing that they can lose their very life in the course of just living their life. They dont have to worry about whether their sons or daughters will come home after a Grocery Store run. Or just walking down the street or driving their car. Playing in the park or just sleeping at home. And this takes acknowledging and confronting head on systemic racism, and the Racial Disparities that exist in policing and in our criminal Justice System more broadly. You know, state and local government and Law Enforcement needs to step up. But so does the federal government. Thats why i have appointed leadership of the Justice Department that i had, that is fully committed to restoring trust between Law Enforcement and the community they are sworn to serve and protect. I have complete confidence in the attorney general, general garlands leadership and commitment. Ive also nominated two key Justice Department nominees, lenita guta and kristen clark, highly respected lawyers who have spent their entire careers fighting to advance Racial Equity and justice. Lenita and kristen have the experience and the skill necessary to advance our administrations priorities to root out unconstitutional policing and reform our criminal Justice System, and they deserve
to be confirmed. We also need congress to act. George floyd was murdered almost a year ago. Theres Meaningful Police Reform legislation in his name. You just heard the Vice President speak of it. She helped write it. Legislation to tackle systemic misconduct in police departments, to restore trust between Law Enforcement and the people that are entrusted to serve and protect. But it shouldnt take a whole year to get this done. My conversations with the floyd family, i spoke with them again today. I assured them, were going to continue to fight for the passage of the George Floyd Justice in policing act, so i can sign it into law as quickly as possible. Theres more to do. Finally its the work we do every day to change hearts and minds as well as laws and
policies. Thats the work we have to do. Only then will full justice and full equality be delivered to all americans. Thats what i just discussed with the floyd family. The guilty verdict does not bring back george. But through the familys pain, theyre finding purpose so georges legacy will not be just about his death but about what we must do in his memory. I also spoke to giannas georges young daughter, when i met her last year at georges funeral, i told her how brave i thought she was, and i sort of knelt down to hold her hand. I said daddys looking down on you, hes so proud. She said so me then, ill never forget it. Daddy changed the world. I told her this afternoon, daddy did change the world. Let that be his legacy. A legacy of peace, not violence. And justice, peaceful expression of that legacy are inevitable and appropriate. Violent protest is not. And there are those who will seek to exploit the raw emotions of the moment, agitators and extremists who have no interest in social justice, who seek to carry out violence, destroy property, fan the flames of hate and division, who will do everything in their power to stop this countrys march toward racial justice. We cant let them succeed. This is a time for this country to come together to unite as americans. There can never been any safe harbor for hate in america. Said it many times, the battle for the soul of this nation has
been a constant push and pull. The tug of war between the american ideal that were all created equal and the harsh reality that racism has long torn us apart. At our best the american ideal wins out. So we cant leave this moment or look away thinking our work is done. We have to look at it we have to look as we did for those nine minutes and 29 seconds. We have to listen. I cant breathe. I cant breathe. Those are George Floyds last words. We cant let those words die with him. We have to keep hearing those words. We must not turn away. We cant turn away. We have a chance to begin to change the trajectory in this
country. Its my hope and prayer that we live up to the legacy. May god bless you, and may god bless george floyd and his family. Thank you for taking the time to be here. This can be a moment of significant change. Thank you. President joe biden talking about a murder in the full light of day that ripped the blinders off of systemic racism. He talked about the fact that it took an extraordinary convergence of circumstances in order to get the conviction of Derek Chauvin, a teenage girl with her cell phone, a crowd that demanded justice, and a murder that took nearly ten minutes and he talked about the fact that you also saw officers testifying against one of their own and how extraordinary that was. President biden talking about the fact that he had spoken with
the family of george floyd, something he has done multiple times since hes been elected. Before he spoke, Vice PresidentKamala Harris, reminding americans of something that should be obvious, and something that we hear in the black lives matter hash tag. That black men are fathers and sons and neighbors and loved ones but too often treated as less than human when it comes to Law Enforcement, and she made that point that because of cell phones, we now have been able to see the injustice, that americans of all races have been able to witness it, and she closed her statements saying were all a part of George Floyds legacy. Joining me now is congresswoman Maxine Waters of california. On that very last point that Vice President harris made, you know, a lot of us, myself included really came to know you in the era of rodney king in which case there was also video, that we were also able to see the injustice in the rodney king case that he was very lucky to survive but still was unable to get justice at the state level
and had to go to the federal government to get it. What does it mean in your mind, as somebody who experienced that in your own community for us to be here now and to see a conviction on all charges against this former Police Officer . Joy, i want to tell