‘Victory’ and resolve for change as Sacramento reacts to verdict in George Floyd’s death

A jury on Tuesday found former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin guilty on all three charges in the death of George Floyd, a Black man who was pinned to the pavement with Chauvin’s knee on his neck for 9½ minutes.

Floyd’s death nearly a year ago at the hands of the fired officer led to numerous protests in Sacramento and throughout the United States last summer and prompted a nationwide call for police reform and an intense scrutiny of police use-of-force tactics.

As the nation heard Tuesday’s reading of the verdict just after 2 p.m. from the Chauvin trial in Minneapolis, Stevante Clark, the older brother of Stephon Clark who was shot and killed by Sacramento police in 2018, fell to the ground as he hugged his cousin, Steven Ray Collins, with extreme joy.

Clark called Chauvin’s conviction a “victory,” but one that needs to be followed with a continued effort to produce lasting change.

“Right now, it’s a celebration for George Floyd,” Clark said.

He went to Cesar Chavez Plaza in downtown Sacramento on Tuesday to set up loudspeakers for passersby to listen to the verdict.

Clark said before the announcement that he hoped the fact the jury only deliberated for about 10 hours was a positive sign, but he had a grim warning for what could transpire in Sacramento if Chauvin is acquitted.

“If this verdict is not guilty, then America is guilty. If this verdict goes guilty then America has time to redeem herself for all the things and the blood that have come,” Clark told The Sacramento Bee before the verdict was announced. “If the verdict is not guilty, it’s going to be very ugly.”

There were only a handful of onlookers at Chavez Plaza, the traditional starting point for protests in Sacramento. Clark was carrying a generator, speakers and other equipment from a large van to place on the stage directly across from City Hall.

“The mothers, we won’t be able to send them out to calm them down. It won’t work that way,” Clark said as they waited for the verdict announcement.

Protests in capital city before verdict

In the past week, people have gathered in the park and near the state Capitol in Sacramento in response to more recent police killings in Minnesota and Illinois.

Clark said those recent deaths at the hands of police — Daunte Wright outside Minneapolis and 13-year-old Adam Toledo in Chicago — shows that more work needs to be done, or “we will never get justice in the streets.” He said he hoped there was no destructive behavior in Sacramento in response to the verdicts overnight. He called that type of behavior “passion without direction” and disrespectful of his brother and others killed by police.

“We want to commemorate their lives and legacies in a positive light,” Clark said.

Lawmakers, others react to verdict

Shortly after the verdict was announced, Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg said Floyd’s death prompted a collective outcry that was a catalyst for the city to make significant police reforms.

“These guilty verdicts are not the end of the quest for justice, but a necessary beginning,” he said in a statement. “Our country’s most persistent virus, racism, will not be wiped away with one verdict. But this jury’s decision offers hope that our criminal justice system can hold law enforcement officers to account when they needlessly take the lives of the people they are sworn to protect and serve, and who pose no real threat. George Floyd’s death prompted a collective outcry that was a catalyst for our city to continue making significant police reforms, and we will continue our quest for transparency, accountability and humane policing.”

The mayor said the city’s quest for transparency, accountability and humane policing will continue.

As of 4 p.m., there were no signs of demonstrations or protesters gathering near the Capitol, or in other parts of downtown.

Police and city officials have not disclosed their preparations for any potential protests in response to the verdict in Chauvin’s trial. Many of the buildings and shops downtown were still open Tuesday afternoon.

Last summer’s protests in Sacramento came as many businesses were shuttered due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Tuesday’s verdict comes as the downtown economy is right in the midst of reopening. Golden 1 Center, for instance, is set Tuesday night to host the Kings’ first home game with fans in attendance since March 2020.

Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadivé issued a statement shortly after the verdict was announced.

“Today, we have seen justice served and this ruling should be a model for accountability, as it has not been the reality for so many other cases,” Ranadivé said. “We remain steadfast in our commitment to use our platform to combat systemic racism in our community and country to ensure a more equitable future for Black people. Black Lives Matter. Black Futures Matter.”

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and National Basketball Players Association Executive Director Michele Roberts issued a joint statement applauding the jury’s verdict.

“George Floyd’s murder was a flash point for how we look at race and justice in our country, and we are pleased that justice appears to have been served,” according to the joint statement. “But we also recognize that there is much work to be done and the National Basketball Association and the National Basketball Players Association, together with our newly-formed Social Justice Coalition, will redouble our efforts to advocate for meaningful change in the area of criminal justice and policing.”

University of California, Davis, Chancellor Gary S. May said Tuesday that Floyd’s murder last year brought into stronger focus the history of people of color killed disproportionately.

“We join others across the nation in expressing relief that justice was served,” May said in the written statement posted online after the verdict was announced. “We’re optimistic that this decision may represent an inflection point, where we begin to overcome racial and social injustices that have been pervasive in policing. Whatever you feel about today’s verdict, it’s another reminder of how much more we have to do to heal as a nation. The work continues.”

Laws changed in California

In 2019, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill that limits when officers can use deadly force. The law is considered one of the strictest in the nation.

In response to the protests last year, Democrats pushed a slew of new bills through the Legislature to further regulate how officers do their job in California.

Among the new laws Newsom signed in 2020 was a ban on carotid artery restraints and chokeholds. The bill’s author, Assemblyman Mike Gipson, D-Carson, said the legislation was “in response to the murder, the execution of George Floyd by the people who took an oath of office to serve and protect their community,”

Newsom also signed a bill to mandate state prosecutors more frequently investigate officer-involved deaths.

California lawmakers are considering another bill this year that would decertify officers with a record of misconduct. The proposal, Senate Bill 2, is considered a top priority for Democratic leadership and criminal justice activists in California.

The Bee’s Jason Anderson, Michael McGough and Hannah Wiley contributed to this story.