Following the Chauvin verdict, about 50 protesters showed up to demonstrate in front of Detroit Public Safety headquarters.
Among those, Kate Stenvig is an organizer with By Any Mean Necessary (BAMN) and says justice was served.
“We continue to march for justice for George Floyd and for everyone who has been killed by police and for real equality.”
Shawn Vaughn is with BAMN and says there is more work to do.
“I think this is the beginning. This is a good first step. But real justice comes from a leadership that's building a movement to put power in the hands of the oppressed.”
Liana Mulholland is with BAMN and says the support of millions of people in the streets for the past year had an effect on the jury.
“I just feel like it shows that I'm marching in the street building a movement is how you win justice in the courts. And had that not have had all the unrest over the summer not happened. I don't think we would have seen three guilty verdict.”
Nakia Wallace is one of the leaders of social-justice group ‘Detroit Will Breathe’ she says the work isn’t finished because of this one verdict.
“Well Detroit Will Breathe is an organization that is a part of a larger movement. And so we go where the movement goes, right? We have no intentions of stopping the fight for black and brown lives. We have no intentions of stopping, holding the state and the police accountable to the harm that they do to us.”
Detroit Police Chief James Craig has had a contentious relationship with anti-police brutality protesters. He concedes justice was done, but says Derek Chauvin isn’t indicative of most officers, but says the jury got it right.
“This is not reflective of our profession. The vast majority of men and women who serve every day, do it right. It’s still a stain on our profession, but we had to deal with weeks and months of at times violent protests. But in his day, the right thing was done.”
Craig is named in several civil rights lawsuits for the actions of his officers.