President Biden made remarks on Tuesday evening after a jury earlier in the day found former police officer Derek Chauvin guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the killing of George Floyd last year.
“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,” Biden said.
Former President Barack Obama and Former First Lady Michelle Obama issued a statement saying that the verdict was a shift in the right direction but reforms are necessary to purge racial bias from the criminal justice system.
“While today’s verdict may have been a necessary step on the road to progress, it was far from a sufficient one. We cannot rest. We will need to follow through with the concrete reforms that will reduce and ultimately eliminate racial bias in our criminal justice system. We will need to redouble our efforts to expand economic opportunity for those communities that have been too long marginalized,” the couple said in their statement.
“So again, thank you George Floyd for sacrificing your life for justice,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Tuesday, remarking that because of Floyd and “people around the world who came out for justice, your name will always be synonymous with justice”
Members of Floyd’s family also delivered remarks on Tuesday: “My family is a family that will not back down from prayer. And I believe because of prayer, we got the verdict we wanted,” George Floyd’s brother Terrence Floyd said. “We said ‘God, we need justice, we need it now.’ And he answered.”
