UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet welcomes the conviction of a white ex-cop in the trial surrounding the death of black detainee George Floyd.
Had the jury come to a different decision, she said it would have been an example of ludicrous injustice.
The civilian jury decided on Tuesday that Derek Chauvin is responsible for the death of Floyd. The latter last year so violently arrested Chauvin in the American city of Minneapolis that Floyd died. “As the jury acknowledged, the evidence, in this case, was crystal clear,” said Bachelet.
She insists that Floyd is not the only victim. For the many other victims of African descent and their families in the US and around the world, the fight for justice continues. Winning is far from over. “
“The deep-seated legacy of discriminatory policies and systems must be resolutely uprooted to achieve racial justice and equality,” said Bachelet. “If that doesn’t happen, the verdict, in this case, will just be a fleeting moment rather than a true turning point.”
According to the UN chief, the trial shows that much remains to be done to end the systemic racism faced by people of African descent. About the US, she says that recent weeks have proven that despite police reforms, it has failed to prevent the deaths of people of African descent, referring to several black Americans who died in a confrontation with the police.
Bachelet welcomes the steps already being taken in the US but also says more needs to be done. It is time, she says, to critically study the context of Floyd’s death by looking at the past and examining its “poisonous traces” in today’s society.