Special Report: “BLACK IN AMERICA”: THE CHAUVIN VERDICT.

Attorney Rawsi Williams Esq.

By Attorney Rawsi Williams, Esq.

 Guilty.  Guilty.  Guilty.

     FINALLY.  This one word sums up the exhalation emitting from the depths of our collective SOULS when we heard those three words.  And by “we” I don’t just mean Black people…I mean America.  FINALLY, the lives of Black men were valued in the criminal justice system.  FINALLY, an officer was held accountable for killing us.  FINALLY, America heard the cry for Justice we’d been making even before Rodney King.  FINALLY, America also heard our contrasting righteous anger of police killing us on the street while yet arresting alive known armed white mass murderers Nickolas Cruz, Dylan Roof, Jared Loughner, James Holmes, Kyle Rittenhouse, and so many others.  Time after time we observed these armed white mass murderers who police knew were armed and had just killed multiple people get their day in court while our unarmed Black men and women were killed by police who “feared for their lives’ or “thought” they were armed. No rational person could make that inherent inconsistency make sense.

So there seemingly was no equal protection under the law for us in the criminal justice system. Although states must treat an individual or class of individuals the same as it treats other individuals or classes in like circumstances, from arrest to sentencing we were deprived of our lives, liberty, and fundamental civil rights by state actors in ways which our similarly situated white counterparts were not.   We were killed.  Black parents even had to have conversations with our young children about police interaction that no young child should ever have to hear.  Young children had to watch Chauvin literally rob the very life from George Floyd for nine minutes and 29 seconds with both his literal and proverbial “knee on the Black man’s neck.”  For us, the verdict would have resounding repercussions.

But in this case something new happened.  Like the world had never seen even in the civil rights movement led by the late great Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; the WHOLE WORLD said Enough! And, this time even the thin blue line said ENOUGH! Like it or not, that gave the Jury the power to give a righteous and legally sound verdict based on the evidence because the officer’s testimony IS evidence.  As compellingly chilling and depraved as Chauvin’s murder of George was on the video, somebody had to get on the stand to say the force was excessive. Unfortunately as we’ve seen time and time again where police have killed us, the experts alone were not always sufficient.  We were blamed for “not obeying” or the paradigm shifted to the “13%” and “what about Black-on-Black crime of Pookie killing Bubba in drive-bys” instead of the fact that officers who hold not only legal jurisdiction over us but the pen writing the (self-serving) narrative of the shooting is the same Officer who killed us. Pookie can be convicted!! The Officer couldn’t.

The Verdict said “Yes” your Black Lives DO Matter.  So let us keep busy making freedom from police brutality against us ring from every housetop!   Do not let the murder of George Floyd be in vain.  Donate to or join your local NAACP (naacp.org).  Run for office. Support and follow those who are leading the way.  Vet every official running for office everywhere regardless of party.  Thank those who are helping us.  Many went out on a limb to stand with us in ways we will never fully know. Change the laws.  Convict.  Pray, but then get up. It is America’s time to shine, and despite all we are fighting in this nation, together we will.   “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.”  Make that be true for us continually America.

Guilty.  Guilty.  Guilty. 

FINALLY.

    Attorney Rawsi Williams, Esq., R.N. is the Founder of Rawsi Williams Law Group in Miami, serving clients statewide.  She is an Attorney, Registered Nurse, and Veteran who became an Attorney after her own brother’s incarceration.  Her winning representation has been featured on ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS, and in print.   Learn more and contact her on Social Media:  IG and Facebook @RawsiWilliamsLawGroup, Twitter @RawsiWilliams;  and her website CallRawsiWilliams.com

About Carma Henry 24481 Articles
Carma Lynn Henry Westside Gazette Newspaper 545 N.W. 7th Terrace, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33311 Office: (954) 525-1489 Fax: (954) 525-1861

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