Shortly before noon at Denver’s South High School, a group of students filed out of the building holding large banners that read “Black Lives Matter” and “How Many More?” Under gray skies, in a damp chill, they stood in silence for 9 minutes and 29 seconds, the amount of time that Derek Chauvin knelt on George Floyd’s neck.
Young people around the metro area have reacted with a mix of relief and reflection to the announcement Tuesday that a Minnesota jury found Chauvin, a fired police officer, guilty of murdering Floyd outside a corner store last year. As much as students were grateful for the conviction, they know that much work remains to be done.
Ninth-grader Graça Jovelino bowed her head as she held a drawing she had made of Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery.
“These things that are happening are not normal,” she said in Portuguese. “Racism is a sickness of some white people. We’re all children of God, and we should love each other in spite of everything. Inside, we’re equal. We shouldn’t be mistreated.”
Charlotte Anderson, student body co-president at South, said she started crying when she heard the verdict. She hadn’t dared to hope for a conviction. As a young Black woman, Floyd’s murder and those of so many others have hit close to home. It’s also been surprising to see the case serve as a wake-up call for white Americans.
“How did you not know this? If you are Black in America, you know this,” she said.
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