What the Chauvin verdict does and doesn’t change about American policing

It’s been a week since a Minneapolis jury found former cop Derek Chauvin guilty on all three counts in the killing of George Floyd, and across the country most people were relieved.

But for much of the Black community, it was not a time for celebration, but the start of long-needed accountability for police misconduct. For many, justice is about more than one trial. Some believe the whole system of policing needs examination to determine the conditions that allowed Chauvin to murder Floyd in the first place.

Today’s episode of Real Black History explores how the Derek Chauvin verdict has fueled national police reform. A national poll from the Washington Post and ABC News shows a majority of Americans are concerned over the mistreatment of Black people by police and want them held accountable.

But what does reform look like? We’ll talk to people who share old and new ideas about what real justice could look like for Black and brown communities and how this moment may open the door to systemic changes in policing.