MINNEAPOLIS – In sentencing Derek Chauvin to 22 1/2 years in prison, the criminal justice system has shown it can act swiftly and severely when faced with a police officer’s slow-motion murder of a Black man that’s recorded by bystanders and witnessed by millions.
The question is whether the example made of Chauvin will change anything for the many Black men and people of color who are disproportionately killed by police – often in an instant with inconclusive video and no witnesses.
In Chauvin’s case, the public saw a rarity as the levers of the justice system seemed to move decisively: indictment, conviction, a stiff sentence, a historic civil settlement, plus upcoming trials on federal civil