The Trial Begins

The trial of Derek Chauvin, the racist police officer who murdered George Floyd by kneeling on his neck for 9 minutes, slowly and painfully asphyxiating him to death, in front of multiple witnesses and live on camera, has begun. So far it isn’t looking good for Chauvin, as witness after witness talks tearfully of that horrible day.
Still, less than 1% of police officers who kill somebody ever go to jail for it. And the murderers of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, and hundreds and hundreds of others are still not on trial, and many of them are still actually working as cops. So, even if Derek Chauvin is sentence to life without parole, as he most certainly should be, it will only be a beginning.
Only a beginning, and a long overdue beginning, but still, a beginning. I have heard rumors that some police officers will testify against him, and I certainly hope that is true. If there is one change that needs to happen, one necessary reform, it is an end to this ridiculous idea that police officers will back up other police officers no matter what. Sure, it is a good and noble thing to support and help your colleagues, and that happens in any line of work. People will cover other people’s shifts, clock each other in if somebody’s late, not report small errors or misdeeds to the boss, because that’s just the friendly thing to do. But if a mail carrier murders someone on their route, if a teacher kneels on a students neck, if a doctor deliberately kills a patient because they talked back to them, their colleagues will not support them, as a general rule, because most mail carriers, teachers, and doctors are decent human beings.
At the moment, you can’t say that about the police. I did read a report today that pointed out that the vast majority of police officers go their whole careers without ever firing their gun, many without ever even drawing it. Those cops should not be supporting the likes of Derek Chauvin.
If this trial leads to that, it will be a good beginning, indeed.