Minneapolis is the path to a more humane America – Frank Bruni, NYTimes, April 21, 2021

The killing of George Floyd outside Cup Foods in Minneapolis last May spoke to the depravity of America and Americans.

The conviction of Derek Chauvin on all three counts of murder and manslaughter yesterday spoke to their grace.

Just as Floyd’s death was the consequence of many people (over many centuries) succumbing to their worst impulses or ignoring the ugliness around them, the jury’s verdict was the triumph of many people (over many months) doing the right thing.

Let’s savor and celebrate that — as a way of encouraging more such behavior in the future, as a recognition that our better angels can best our demons, as a solace after all the sorrow of the past year.

It won’t bring George Floyd back or erase his family’s pain. It doesn’t change the countless instances in which police violence has gone unacknowledged and unpunished. It’s no assurance of justice in the future.

But it’s an embrace of justice in the present, in this one case.

It’s a start.

Here’s how the CNN political commentator Van Jones perfectly put it in his remarks just minutes after the verdict:

I think about that young girl who brought our her cellphone and who stood there in horror, not knowing what to do but just holding that phone steady. She did the right thing. All those community members who came and begged and pleaded and talked — they did the right thing. That E.M.T. person did the right thing. When people called the police on the police, they did the right thing. When the police chief fired this man, he did the right thing. When people marched by the millions, they did the right thing.

Let’s follow the examples of that young girl, Darnella Frazier; of the people who called the police on the police; of the marchers; of the mourners. Let’s never ignore ugliness, never indulge demons. Let’s believe in and push for an America that renders justice, because we just saw justice rendered.

Let’s remember that a fairer, more humane and more inclusive country — a more perfect union — begins with each of us doing the right thing.

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