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Chauvin Guilty of Murder in Floyd's Death C M Y K Nxxx,2021-04-21,A,001,Bs-4C,E1 Late Edition Today, cloudy, breezy, showers, af- ternoon thunderstorms, high 64. To- night, clearing, windy, colder, low 36. Tomorrow, sunshine, windy, high 52. Weather map is on Page B12. VOL. CLXX . ...No. 59,035 © 2021 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021 $3.00 CHAUVIN GUILTY OF MURDER IN FLOYD’S DEATH A Rare Rebuke of Police Violence in the U.S. This article is by John Eligon, Tim Arango, Shaila Dewan and Nicho- las Bogel-Burroughs. MINNEAPOLIS — A former police officer who pressed his knee into George Floyd’s neck un- til well past Mr. Floyd’s final breath was found guilty of murder on Tuesday in a case that shook the nation’s conscience and drew millions into the streets for the largest racial justice protests in generations. The verdict, which could send the former officer, Derek Chauvin, to prison for decades, was a rare rebuke of police violence, follow- ing case after case of officers go- ing without charges or convic- tions after killing Black men, women and children. At the center of it all was an ex- cruciating video, taken by a teenage girl, that showed Mr. Chauvin, who is white, kneeling on the neck of Mr. Floyd, who was Black, for 9 minutes 29 seconds as Mr. Floyd pleaded for his life and bystanders tried to intervene. Mr. Floyd repeated “I can’t breathe” more than 20 times during the en- counter. The video, played on a horrify- ing loop for the past year, trig- gered more than calls for changes in policing. It stirred Americans of all races, in small towns and large cities, to gather for mass protests, STILL IMAGE, VIA COURT TV chanting “Black lives matter” and Former Officer Derek Chauvin after his conviction on Tuesday in Minneapolis. Philonise Floyd, one of George Floyd’s brothers, said, “We are able to breathe again.” challenging the country to finally have a true reckoning over race. Their demands reverberated within the walls of institutions that had long resisted change, A Year of Protest and Reform. With a Cry of ‘We Matter,’ Catharsis and Relief from corporate America to Con- gress. In the Old Fourth Ward of Atlan- This week, over the course of What Now for Racial Justice? ta, a block from Ebenezer Baptist By SHAILA DEWAN two days, a racially diverse jury of In Minneapolis and the Church, Rema Miller, 49, was sit- and JULIE BOSMAN seven women and five men delib- ting outside a cigar store having a Country, a Sense That erated for about 10 hours before MINNEAPOLIS — Outside the celebratory puff. This article is by Audra D. S. white police officer who knelt on pronouncing Mr. Chauvin guilty Cup Foods convenience store “I honestly feel some type of re- Burch, Amy Harmon, Sabrina Tav- Mr. Floyd, was convicted of two Justice Was Served on all three charges: second-de- where George Floyd was killed lief because we’ve been carrying a ernise and Emily Badger. counts of murder as well as man- gree murder, third-degree murder last May, a woman nearly col- lot,” Ms. Miller, a retired counsel- George Floyd had been dead slaughter. The verdict brought and second-degree manslaughter. some solace to activists for racial lapsed in tears upon hearing the or, said. “We felt like history was only hours before the movement President Biden praised the justice who had been riveted to guilty verdicts against Derek some Black Americans in particu- going to repeat itself. He was go- began. Driven by a terrifying vid- verdict in an address at the White the courtroom drama for the past Chauvin, the police officer who lar, the moment was especially ing to get convicted of the lesser eo and word of mouth, people House but called it a “too rare” several weeks. killed Mr. Floyd. poignant, an affirmation that jus- charge. And so we’ve prepared flooded the South Minneapolis in- step to deliver “basic accountabil- But for many Black Americans, “We matter,” she said, straight- tice had been served for Mr. Floyd. ourselves for that.” tersection where he was killed ity” for Black Americans. real change feels elusive, particu- ening up. “We matter.” Don Jackson, a 33-year-old tech In some cities, people said they shortly after Memorial Day, de- “It was a murder in full light of larly given how relentlessly the In one Minneapolis neighbor- worker, was leaving work in Chi- could not even bear to watch. manding an end to police violence day, and it ripped the blinders off killing of Black men by the police hood, jubilant residents honked cago’s Loop as the news of Mr. Tifanny Burks, 28, who orga- against Black Americans. for the whole world to see,” Mr. Bi- has continued, including the re- horns and banged pots and pans Chauvin’s conviction spread nized protests last summer with den said. “For so many, it feels like The moment of collective grief cent shooting death of Daunte out their windows. Hundreds of through downtown. “I didn’t have the Black Lives Matter Alliance it took all of that for the judicial and anger swiftly gave way to a Wright in a Minneapolis suburb. people who were facing the court- a lot of hope that they would get it Broward in South Florida, said system to deliver just basic ac- yearlong, nationwide deliberation There are also signs of back- house began pumping their fists right,” he said of the jurors. “But her mother texted the news to her on what it means to be Black in countability.” Continued on Page A18 in unison as the news whipped they did.” Continued on Page A16 America. through the crowd. “Guilty!” they Hours before the jury’s deci- First came protests, in large cit- shouted, and then began to chant: sion, Mr. Biden had taken the un- ies and small towns across the na- “All three counts! All three usual step of weighing in, telling tion, becoming the largest mass counts!” reporters that he was “praying” protest movement in U.S. history. When Minneapolis heard the for the “right verdict.” Then, over the next several verdict in the trial of Mr. Chauvin, “This can be a giant step for- months, nearly 170 Confederate it was a moment of catharsis for ward in the march toward justice symbols were renamed or re- many in the city, a scene of col- in America,” he said. moved from public spaces. The lective relief and satisfaction that After the verdict, Philonise “Black lives matter” slogan was he had been convicted on two Floyd, one of Mr. Floyd’s younger claimed by a nation grappling murder charges and one man- brothers, spoke at the Hilton hotel with Mr. Floyd’s death. slaughter charge in Mr. Floyd’s in downtown Minneapolis. “We Over the next 11 months, calls death. are able to breathe again,” he said, for racial justice would touch Those scenes were echoed, holding back tears. seemingly every aspect of Ameri- sometimes in quieter ways, across Continued on Page A15 can life on a scale that historians the country, as Americans paused say had not happened since the from working, running errands or civil rights movement of the picking up their children from GRIM HISTORY An examination of 1960s. OFFICES OF BEN CRUMP LAW school to listen as Judge Peter A. VICTOR J. BLUE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES police killings of Black Americans On Tuesday, Derek Chauvin, the George Floyd Cahill announced the verdict. For Reacting to the verdict at George Floyd Square in Minneapolis. shows few convictions. PAGE A14 Big Tech’s Clout Is Challenged Across the Globe Iran Rattled as Israel Strikes Again and Again varies. In the United States and more than two decades of sabo- This article is by Paul Mozur, Ceci- Curbs Could Reshape Europe, it is concern that tech This article is by Ben Hubbard, Hitting Targets With tage and assassinations, have ex- lia Kang, Adam Satariano and Da- companies are stifling competi- Farnaz Fassihi and Ronen posed embarrassing security vid McCabe. How Internet Works tion, spreading misinformation Bergman. Help From the Inside lapses and left Iran’s leaders look- and eroding privacy; in Russia ing over their shoulders as they China fined the internet giant BEIRUT, Lebanon — In less and elsewhere, it is to silence pro- pursue negotiations with the Bi- Alibaba a record $2.8 billion this than nine months, an assassin on test movements and tighten politi- den administration aimed at re- month for anticompetitive prac- dent Biden has stacked his admin- a motorbike fatally shot an Al The steady drumbeat of at- storing the 2015 nuclear agree- tices, ordered an overhaul of its istration with trustbusters who cal control; in China, it is some of Qaeda commander given refuge tacks, which intelligence officials sister financial company and have taken aim at Amazon, Face- both. in Tehran, Iran’s chief nuclear sci- said were carried out by Israel, ment. warned other technology firms to book and Google. While nations and tech firms entist was machine-gunned on a highlighted the seeming ease with The recriminations have been obey Beijing’s rules. Around the world, governments have jockeyed for primacy for country road, and two separate, which Israeli intelligence was able caustic. Now the European Commission are moving simultaneously to lim- years, the latest actions have mysterious explosions rocked a to reach deep inside Iran’s borders The head of Parliament’s stra- plans to unveil far-reaching regu- it the power of tech companies pushed the industry to a tipping key Iranian nuclear facility in the and repeatedly strike its most tegic center said Iran had turned lations to limit technologies pow- with an urgency and breadth that point that could reshape how the desert, striking at the heart of the heavily guarded targets, often into a “haven for spies.” The for- ered by artificial intelligence.
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