Nancy Pelosi bizarrely thanks George Floyd for 'sacrificing' his life for justice
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi characterized George Floyd's nine-minute-long murder at the hands of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin as a sacrifice "for justice," following the jury returning a guilty verdict on Tuesday evening.
"Thank you George Floyd for sacrificing your life for justice," Pelosi said at a press conference with the Congressional Black Caucus, adding that "because of you and because of thousands, millions of people around the world who came out for justice, your name will always be synonymous for justice."
Needless to say, many others did not agree with Pelosi's assessment that Floyd's killing by a police officer makes his name "synonymous for justice." In the tense hour before the verdict was read in Minneapolis, writer Geraldine DeRuiter pointed out on Twitter that "the fact that [Chauvin] committed murder and it was filmed and we're on edge wondering if he will be found guilty is just ... a lot." Vice President Kamala Harris had further observed, prior to the verdict, that regardless of the outcome, the ruling in the trial "will not heal the pain that existed for generations."
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Additionally, the ACLU noted that Chauvin's verdict marks the first time in Minnesota state history that "a white police officer has been held accountable for killing a Black man."
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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
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