Chauvin Faces the Music

The photograph on the front page of this morning's New York Daily News spoke untold volumes. Devin Chauvin, the disgraced, ex Minneapolis cop looked stunned when he was sentenced to twenty-two and a half years in the big house for the brutal murder of George Floyd thirteen months ago. In my opinion, the guy got off light. With good behavior he could be out free as a bird by the year 2036. By that time, he'll be two years younger than I am now. What kind of punishment is that? That's no punishment at all. They should have thrown the book at the murderous little thug. Floyd's death was cold-blooded murder - nothing more, nothing less. 

The images of the nine-plus minutes that Chauvin leaned into George's neck are ingrained into our collective memory forever. We will never be able to erase the sound of George pleading for his life and calling out for his deceased mother from our minds. The only good thing to come out of this man-made tragedy is the fact that a revolution of consciousness overcame America at that moment. After the murder of George Floyd in broad daylight we can only hope and pray that America will never be the same again. Fortunately for posterity (and justice) the entire incident of George's killing was captured on a cell phone video by a teenaged girl who happened to be in the wrong place at the right time. She has since been awarded a Pulitzer Prize in photo journalism. Isn't life strange?

While the extreme right wing continues to portray the Black Lives Matter folks as a "terrorist" organization (and I consider myself one of them), this social movement shows no signs of ebbing anytime soon. For all of my life, I was always of the opinion that race would always be the elephant in the American room. I'm more optimistic today than I've ever been in my life. Perhaps we're on the verge of finally rounding this corner - maybe not in our lifetimes, but perhaps during the lives of our children.

Wouldn't it be nice? I'm being naïve, I know.

Tom Degan

Goshen, NY