Skepticism or hope? Tarrant County activists have mixed reactions after Chauvin verdict

Activists in Tarrant County had varying reactions after a jury found former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin guilty of all charges Tuesday in the murder of George Floyd.

Chauvin was convicted of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in Floyd’s death in May 2020.

Floyd’s name rang out in the streets of Fort Worth, and across the country, in protests over the summer. The group Enough is Enough Fort Worth! emerged from weeks of protests and demands for change. Kwame Osei Jr., one of the leaders of the activist group, said Chauvin’s guilty verdict does not change the racism embedded in the U.S.

“To be quite frank, I am still not excited because I feel like this won’t change anything in this country,” Osei said.

He mentioned a police officer in South Carolina who was found guilty for killing an unarmed Black man. “Nothing has changed since then,” he said.

Back-to-back racist incidents in Aledo prove that people are still not having honest conversations about race in America, Osei said. Earlier this month, a group of students created a “slave trade” on social media and pretended to sell their Black peers. On Monday, flyers advertising a “Great Sale of Slaves” were found around the town, which has a .3% Black population.

“They didn’t want to hear the suggestions and concerns of the Black families in Aledo, they kind of just gloss over it and say words they think will appease the people,” he said. “And they’re not putting any action behind it.”

Tony Crawford, one of the leaders of Parker County Progressives, said his wife called him while he was at work to tell him about the verdict.

“I mean for us, this is the trial of the century,” he said. “And my initial reaction is — justice finally.”

Crawford said the conviction gives him “a glimmer” of hope that Aaron Dean, a former Fort Worth police officer who shot and killed Atatiana Jefferson in her home, will be found guilty in Jefferson’s death.

“Can this be something that starts to turn the tide? Maybe,” he said. “I don’t want to get my hopes up because we’re often disappointed. But at the end of the day, you can only hope.”

Crawford hopes Chauvin’s verdict will be a signal to other police officers that they cannot kill unarmed Black people with impunity. Instead, there are consequences.

“I think this will have a ripple effect,” he said. “I think it can only be seen as this is a new day.”

While the verdict will never bring Floyd back, he said, he hopes his family feels a kind of justice because of the conviction.

Osei said until people have honest conversations about current and past racism, nothing will change. The police system, he said, is rooted in racism and cannot be reformed. Too few police officers who killed unarmed Black people have been found guilty for him to have faith in the justice system.

“It would have to be dismantled and destroyed and something new would have to be built,” he said.

Ebony Turner in Mansfield clutched a pillow in her hands as judge Peter Cahill in Minneapolis read the jury’s decisions. When he finished, Turner burst into tears.

“I think I felt all the emotions all over again, kind of like I did last year,” she said in a phone interview.

Turner and her Facebook group, Black Mansfield Moms, have had several discussions about lethal use of force cases around the United States; Tuesday was no different as Turner and some of the 1,500 members shared their nerves.

The verdicts did not surprise Alisa Simmons, Arlington NAACP president, since recordings of Floyd’s death allowed people to witness the death. However, she said she is cautioning people that the amount of lethal use of force cases still in court means the ruling is not necessarily a “win.”

“Hopefully, America will not use this as a means to absolve itself of ensuring more reform,” Simmons said. “Just because these three guilty verdicts came down today doesn’t mean change is afoot. There is still more policy work to be done.”

Luis Castillo, president of Arlington League of United Latin American Citizens, said he hopes leaders and law enforcement agencies have learned from Floyd’s killing and Chauvin’s trial. Department leadership at all agencies should “take a deep breath, step back and reassess” policies and practices.

“It’s troubling and very sad that these things do happen, and I think from this issue there’s still lessons to be learned to prevent similar things from happening,” he said.

Arlington NAACP and residents organized several protests throughout the summer. Thousands of protesters in the city called for police reform, justice for Floyd and for the ending of qualified immunity for officers, as well as justice for those killed by police in Dallas-Fort Worth.

Both Simmons and Castillo have pushed for the formation of a review board with subpoena power to review cases in Arlington. The suggestion received a nod in the equity report compiled by the Unity Council, but was not included in the recommendations. Elected officials, candidates and leaders have objected to the need for a board with subpoena power, though many remain open to a review board.

“It’s an uphill battle, but we’ll keep moving forward,” Castillo said.

The maximum sentence for second-degree unintentional murder is imprisonment of not more than 40 years. The maximum sentence for third-degree murder is imprisonment of not more than 25 years. The maximum sentence for second-degree manslaughter is 10 years and/or $20,000.