(Reuters) – The sports world celebrated yesterday’s conviction of former Minneapolis policeman Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd but warned that there is still work ahead of us to ensure racial justice and equality.
The verdict followed months of protest in the United States sparked by the murder of Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, last May that sparked a worldwide movement uniting athletes around the world.
In an arrest captured on video, Chauvin is seen pushing his knee into Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes outside the grocery store where he was accused of buying cigarettes with a fake $ 20 bill.
“Thank God… guilty! Justice has been served !!, ”NBA Hall of Famer Magic Johnson tweeted.
The three-week case had further raised raw tensions as cities across the US distanced themselves at the prospect of unpopular verdict and increased protests.
There were reports that leagues had prepared plans to postpone games if the verdict triggered violence but instead there were celebrations on the streets and across social media.
“JUSTICE to George! It’s hard to describe the emotions I’m feeling right now, ”said seven-time Formula One Black driver, seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton on his Twitter account. “Derek Chauvin has been convicted.
“This is a monument, George’s death is not in vain.
“His conviction of the three charges marks a new dawn in the fight for racial justice.”
A 12-member jury needed only 10 hours of deliberation to convict Chauvin of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter.
Most North American sports leagues were quick to respond, the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLS and WNBA all issuing statements praising the verdict and promising to do more to fight racism.
“This past year, we have witnessed traumatic police cruelty incidents that Black Americans experience as disproportionately, with the murder of George Floyd at the forefront of the conversation,” WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said in statement.
“Although this verdict represents a step towards justice, we are reminded that justice is often not the result of people of color.
“The WNBA / WNBPA Social Justice Council will continue its work to combat injustice and inequality in our country and hope this represents a real turning point for how the effects of systemic racism are beginning to be addressed.”
The NBA and its players led the entire Black Lives Matter movement from the front, postponing three playoff games in August following the shooting of another Black man, Jacob Blake, in the city of Kenosha, Wisconsin.
The move sparked similar protests across other sports with MLB, MLS and WNBA also postponing games, while four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka joined the protests by withdrawing from a tournament after reaching the semi-finals.
LeBron James, one of the stars of the Los Angeles Lakers, one of sports’ strongest voices in the fight against police cruelty, had only one word: “ACCOUNTABILITY,” James tweeted.
On tennis’s biggest stage Osaka of Japan stepped up and took a prominent role in the US Open Championship, wearing masks with the name of a black police cruelty victim, including Floyd, in each of his seven matches en route to winning the Grand Slam.
“I was going to do a celebratory tweet but then I was struck with sadness because we were celebrating something that is clearly a day,” Osaka tweeted. “The fact that so many injustices have happened to make us wind up towards this outcome is truly telling.”