Guilty verdicts in Floyd’s death bring joy — and wariness
Associated PressLondon Williams stood in Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, D.C., moments before the verdict was read in George Floyd’s murder trial Tuesday, wondering how he would cope if the white police officer who killed the Black man was acquitted. It’s already hard as it is as a Black man in today’s society,” said Williams, standing with a date in the space near the White House renamed after Floyd’s death last May. “It means so much to me,” said Venisha Johnson, a Black woman who cried at a gathering in what’s been dubbed George Floyd Square in Minneapolis. Gretchen Whitmer called Tuesday’s verdict “a reminder to continue pushing for justice in every corner of our society.” And in Portland, Oregon, which has seen repeated protests and vandalism since Floyd’s death, the mayor declared a state of emergency and put state police and the National Guard on standby.