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Throughout history, there have been grave miscarriages of justice with dire consequences for society. On March 6, 1857, Chief Justice Roger Taney wrote the majority opinion in the Dred Scott decision which denied people of African descent—whether free or enslaved—citizenship, blocking them from the rights and protections afforded by citizenship. On the eve of the verdict in the Derek Chauvin case, the question of whether African Americans have equal protections under the law is once again on trial.
Although the particulars of this case would have us focus narrowly on the portraits of George Floyd and Derek Chauvin, the passage of time will help us place the incidents leading up to George Floyd’s death, the responses that have since transpired, and the outcome of the trial in a historical and social context. This is not just a story about George Floyd and Derek Chauvin. It is a story about systemic and institutional racism, one that’s replayed time and again.
Whatever decision the jury returns, whether there is an appeal or a mistrial, this case is not just about two men; it is about systems of oppression that produce—and reproduce—inequities that too frequently have deadly consequences for Black, Brown, Indigenous, and Asian communities, and will continue to do so, until the end of racism. These inequities pervade the society we live in, undercutting health, safety, and wellbeing for communities of color in many ways; some may be harder to see—opportunities denied, neighborhoods poisoned by polluted air and water, toxic stress—and others are far more visible, like police killings of African Americans or a pandemic that has brought racial inequities into the light for far more people.
Due to the horrifying nature of the video capturing George Floyd's murder and unprecedented on-the-ground organizing to call it out as structural racism, his death became a major flashpoint in the Movement for Black Lives, itself part and parcel of the fight for human rights older than America itself. This confluence of circumstances enabled the public to go from seeing this killing of yet another unarmed Black person at the hands of police as an isolated incident to being part of an unjust pattern.
George Floyd’s killing has been a catalyst for shifting public opinion and leading to a breakthrough in the status quo during an otherwise deeply challenging time. There are some clear indications of systemic reform emerging in Minneapolis and a host of other cities that are taking a renewed look at municipal budgets and police spending in overtures toward racial justice. The result of this case, whatever it is, will leave an enduring imprint on American history. Whether that mark will be a stain or a turning point for progress is yet to be determined.
What we know from Dred Scott v. Sandford is that as odious as the federal ruling was, it was not the final word on Black American citizenship. The 14th Amendment is. To be sure, our country still fumbles to find consistency between the words of the Constitution and civic practices in communities across the nation. Yet, for all its wrongheadedness the Dred Scott decision lent fuel to the cause of abolitionists and accelerated divisions between the North and the South on the question of slavery, which led to the Civil War and Lincoln’s eventual and reluctant emancipation of Blacks to enable them to engage in the war effort. Breakthroughs come about in the face of repression.
Whatever the verdict in the Chauvin trial, we should recall the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. when he said, “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” Even if there is injustice in the outcome of the Derek Chauvin trial, the fight for justice will forge ahead.
Let us also keep in mind that the trajectory of the moral universe toward justice is inseparable from the people who seek it. In the profound words of Frederick Douglass, the escaped slave, activist, author, public speaker, and international leader in the abolitionist movement, which sought an end to the practice of slavery, before and during the Civil War:
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