Why I Won’t Watch Derek Chauvin Trial
We started Why Are They So Angry? as a direct response to George Floyd’s murder. Now, almost a year after the heinous act, Derek Chauvin’s trial is being televised, analyzed, and dissected daily. Some of my family and friends are watching every moment of the Derek Chauvin trial while others are avoiding it like the COVID-19 pandemic. I fall into the last category. Unfortunately, I can’t avoid catching quick glimpses of it through headlines and TV news blurbs, but for the most part, I have no intention of watching the courtroom drama unfold. Why?
First, I clearly remember the day I heard about George Floyd’s murder then watching a few moments of his agonizing death on social media. Those visuals traumatized me, and I don’t want to experience those sickening feelings again. What happened to George Floyd was a dehumanizing public lynching. It reflected the decades of brutality Black/African Americans have faced in America since 1619---brutality inflicted and sanctioned by, in, and through every institution in this country. Watching the Chauvin trial corroborates my belief that America isn’t a safe country for Black/African Americans, so I’d prefer not to have that fact reiterated.
The Chauvin trial also reignites the fear I have for all Black/African Americans especially men. My husband is a proud Black/American man and I’m surrounded by uncles, cousins, nephews, and friends like him who, at any time, could meet George Floyd’s fate. Since he was murdered, police brutality and murders of unarmed Black/African Americans has continued, and I suspect it will continue. Also, I fear there will be backlash and ongoing violence regardless of the trial’s outcome; violence perpetrated by police and civilians alike simply because of the color of someone’s skin. For example, I recall my deep anxiety after hearing how James Byrd, Jr. was dragged to death by two white men in Jasper, Texas. I worried about my nephews who have white friends and wondered if they would be turned on by those “friends” as James Byrd, Jr. had been.
Finally, optimist though I am, I doubt the outcome of the trial will result in a conviction. Think of the over 4,000 lynchings that happened in America in the first four decades of the 20th Century, none of which resulted in convictions. According to a study by The Marshall Project, “of 400,000 homicides committed by civilians between 1980 and 2014, killings of Black/African American men by whites are far more likely to be ruled ‘justifiable’. When a white person kills a black man in America, the killer often faces no legal consequences. In one in six of these killings, there is no criminal sanction.” So, the statistics are overwhelmingly against Derek Chauvin being found guilty of anything even though several charges have been brought against him.
Matthew Stewart, author and philosopher wrote, “Racism in particular is not just a legacy of the past, as many Americans would like to believe; it also must be constantly reinvented for the present.” I think Stewart is right and that the Derek Chauvin trial will prove to be another example of systemic racism reinventing itself. I doubt jurors will be able to overcome their intrinsic biases favoring law enforcement to convict Chauvin. Therefore, I won’t waste time watching a trial that I believe has a foregone conclusion, no matter how overwhelming the evidence to the contrary.
