The Chauvin Verdict

Peace — No Justice?

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

What is justice?

This question dates back to ancient Athens. Socrates posed the question to his contemporaries. Each person gave an example of justice, but Socrates pointed out the flaws in their logic. The debaters in the Socratic dialogues failed to reach a consensus regarding the definition of justice.

Last year, an incident was captured on video that almost every American viewed as unjust.

While making an arrest, Derek Chauvin, a white Minneapolis police officer, knelt on George Floyd’s neck, a handcuffed black man, for over nine minutes, which resulted in Floyd’s death.

City officials in Minneapolis immediately fired Chauvin and he was charged accordingly. More importantly, there was no racial or occupational double standard applied to help Chauvin escape trial.

Unfortunately, none of that mattered.

Riots broke out across the country and demands were made for defunding the police. Police stood down while local politicians met demands to broker the peace. Meanwhile, corporations pledged millions of dollars to social justice causes making it apparent that violence or the threat of violence produced results.

But if the system successfully brought Chauvin to justice, charged him with second-degree…