Black City Leaders, Residents React To Chauvin Verdict

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — While many people across St. Petersburg waited to hear the verdict of the Derek Chauvin trial, the case had special meaning for the city's Black leaders and residents. Pastors stood outside St. Petersburg City Hall and prayed while residents embraced each other in South St. Pete as the former officer was convicted in the murder of a Black man.

The Rev. Kenneth Irby, pastor of the 125-year-old Historic Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in St. Pete, shared his thoughts with a Patch reporter.

"I will say that I am cautiously optimistic," Irby said. "It is definitely a step toward true restoration in this country. And it's a redirection for officers all over the country. We need consistency in law enforcement. This was justice for one family. So what's happening in St. Petersburg, we should be an example to people all over the country, because Chief (Anthony)Holloway has led the way with empathy and understanding."

Chauvin, the white former Minnesota police officer, was found guilty Tuesday on all three counts for the 2020 murder of George Floyd: second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

It was a day of justice for the Black community across the nation, and a reminder of past deaths at the hands of police officers.

In 1996, 18-year-old Tyrone Lewis was fatally shot by a white St. Petersburg police officer on 18th Avenue South after a traffic stop for driving without a license. Lewis locked his car doors and refused to get out, WFTS-TV reported. Officer James Knight pulled out his gun and stood in front of the car. When the car rolled slowly forward, Knight fired three times through the windshield. The shooting was ruled justified, and Knight was cleared; in the aftermath riots and fires damaged parts of the city.

During protests last year following the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor in police shootings, Holloway and other city leaders stood on the steps of city hall and listened as the Black community voiced concerns of unjustified behavior by police. Holloway, who is Black, said he hopes the community can move forward following the Chauvin trial.

"Through our efforts to enhance training and transparency, we hope to continue to build trust with the community," Holloway said. "It is through ongoing conversations that both sides can learn from each other and work together to improve our community.”

For other Black community leaders, the Chauvin trial is a reminder of an older and more powerful corrupted system than the good ol' boys' club of law enforcement.

"The system of white power, colonial/capitalism needed to convict Chauvin," Chimurenga Waller, chair of African People's Socialist Party/Uhuru Movement, said. "The capitalists are trying to convince the Africans of the U.S. and the people of the world that Chauvin is a bad apple, but the system that has enslaved Black people for 400 years is absolved of responsibility. Chauvin got convicted but African people are still colonized."

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