Wednesday April 21, 2021
“I will never forget”
Sports world cheers verdict after Floyd’s murder
After the violent death of George Floyd, the world of sport protested against racism and police violence. The athletes see the fact that a first official has now been found guilty as a success. But only as a step on a long way.
Guilty, guilty and guilty again: the twelve-member jury had no mercy on Derek Chauvin on all three counts. The white ex-cop has been behind bars for decades after the murder of the black man George Floyd. “I can’t breathe,” I can’t breathe, the shackled Floyd shouted again and again on May 25, 2020 when he was forcibly arrested. He died after Chauvin held his knee on his neck for more than nine minutes. The verdict was a relief for many people in the United States – also because it seldom happens that police officers even have to answer in court.
The sports world was also overwhelmed. “I can hardly describe my feelings,” tweeted Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton, at whose instigation the once silver Mercedes cars were painted black after Floyd’s death. But Hamilton also warned: “It is only one step towards more social equality. The fight is not over.” Basketball star LeBron James tweeted just one word: “Accountability”.
The Minnesota Timberwolves basketball players dedicated the Sacramento Kings (134: 120) ball of the game to George Floyd’s family and the city in a symbolic gesture. “We’re with them. We all think this fight is more important than basketball,” said center Karl-Anthony Towns. High hopes are associated with the guilty verdict. Adam Silver, commissioner of the NBA professional basketball league, and Michele Roberts, executive director of the NBPA players’ association, said: “We are delighted to see that justice has apparently been done.” But, both emphasized: “There is still a lot to be done.”
The white-stamped professional ice hockey league NHL stated, “We hope that the end of the process offers an opportunity for healing.” And the baseball players’ association wrote: “With this saying we are beginning to approach true justice, it is a step in the right direction for a course correction in the face of the inappropriate police violence against black Americans.”
Cheers in front of the courthouse
Cheers broke out in front of the Minneapolis courthouse after the guilty verdict. “Says his name”, a spokesman chanted over and over with the megaphone, the crowd replied enthusiastically: “George Floyd.” Nationwide people celebrated “justice” loudly. Floyd’s family felt profound satisfaction. His brother Philonise was an eyewitness in the courtroom and said, moved: “I never thought that I could experience something like this. I will never forget that.”
In the White House, too, there was a great sigh of relief after the eagerly awaited conviction. “That can be a big step on the way to more justice in America,” said US President Joe Biden, who was deeply touched by the murder. And so, after the jury verdict, he turned to Floyd’s daughter Gianna with moving words: “Your father changed the world.”
The name George Floyd will forever be inseparable from the “Black Lives Matter” movement, which gained worldwide popularity after his death. Sport also played its part with its commitment to the equality of all people. The kneeling as a symbol for the protest against police violence and racism became socially acceptable after initial resistance.
But the George Floyd case did not end police violence against blacks. On April 10, 20-year-old Daunte Wright was shot dead by an officer again in Minneapolis. The fact that a white police officer has now been convicted of the murder of a black for the first time in Minnesota is at least a source of hope.
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