Justice Train Makes a Stop in Minneapolis

Three guilty verdicts point to hope in the face of hate

The Justice Train made a stop in Minneapolis today. It wasn’t the Express, but it got there at the right time.

Emmett Till, the 14-year-old who died by hanging in 1955 at the hands of murderous Mississippi white men, rode the train to the Twin Cities. On board with Till were many victims of so much who perished with such infinitesimal regard for their lives: Daunte Wright, who died just miles from where the Justice Train made its stop today, and whose executioner couldn’t tell the difference between a taser and her service revolver; Rayshard Brooks, who fell asleep in his car in the drive-through lane of a fast-food establishment; Breonna Taylor, who was murdered in her own bed. These four passengers, just a fraction of people of color who have lost their lives so that Justice could say its name in court today.

The train’s conductor stood tall and proud. George Perry Floyd Jr., all six feet, four inches and 223 pounds of him. Floyd’s size, of course, was one of many false flags raised by the defense of the man who kneeled on his neck for nine minutes and 29 seconds, suffocating the very life out of him.

Some of us — I’ll admit, I wore the blinders of white privilege for a while — were outraged but couldn’t see a way forward after Floyd’s murder last May; but those who have suffered under the arbitrary thumb of oppression in this country for so long knew exactly what this death was and what it stood for. Thank God for the 17-year-old who had the wherewithal and intestinal fortitude to stand on that sidewalk in front of Cup Foods, filming Floyd’s last minutes on this Earth with her cellphone. That video proved to be pivotal in the prosecution of the man who kneeled on another human being’s neck. Darnella Frazier recognized that George Perry Floyd Jr. could have been any number of folks she knew. She told the court as much.

“When I look at George Floyd, I look at my dad, I look at my brothers, I look at my cousins, my uncles,” Frazier testified, according to press reports. She also told those assembled at the Hennepin County Courthouse that she has stayed up some nights “apologizing and apologizing to George Floyd for not doing more and not physically interacting and not saving his life.”

Why did Derek Chauvin do it? He didn’t testify in his own defense, so perhaps we’ll never know. What we can discern is that George Floyd’s murder was a last, sad straw to break the camel’s back of frustration and grief. Floyd’s death sparked the Summer of Racial Reckoning, nationwide protests that vented anger, but also called for action. The Justice Train started its journey to Minneapolis in 2020; when it chugged into the station today, we realized the journey wasn’t complete, but we also knew that a path forward was possible.

The guilty verdicts rendered today against Chauvin — second-degree unintentional murder; third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter — could result in up to 40 years in prison for the former Minneapolis cop. We won’t know his sentence for another two months, but I watched with a great deal of satisfaction as the judge revoked Chauvin’s bail and ordered him “remanded into custody” after announcing the jury’s unanimous verdict. The bailiffs turned the perp around, grabbed his wrists, and clapped the cuffs on him. He’ll have two months to contemplate his fate on the guilty side of a jail cell while the wheels of justice keep turning and the Justice Train — we can only hope — gains steam.

The punishment, of course, doesn’t really fit the crime, but there’s not much to hope for after that. Only that all Americans will someday be treated as the Founders intended. My hands are up — please don’t shoot; I complied with your orders, please keep your itchy trigger finger off the pepper spray; I’m trying to get some shut-eye, so please don’t kill me in my sleep.

Prosecutor Jerry Blackwell summarized — for the jury and for the rest of us — some of what we’ll encounter as the Justice Train journeys ahead.

“You are told, for example…that Mr. Floyd died because his heart was too big. You heard that testimony,” Blackwell told the jury just before the panel began deliberations.

“And now having seen all the evidence and having heard the evidence, you know the truth,” Blackwell continued. “And the truth of the matter is that the reason George Floyd is dead is because Mr. Chauvin’s heart was too small.”

Amen. I can hear the Justice Train. It’s on the right track.