The Derek Chauvin Trial is probably going to tear the city of Minneapolis apart.
All eyes are on Minnesota this week as the trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin gets underway.
Mr Chauvin faces two counts of murder and one count of manslaughter over the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, last May in Minneapolis.
Protesters crowded the streets in Mr Floyd's name in cities across the US and around the world over the summer.
An African-American political hopeful, a Minnesota resident and a retired police veteran shared their thoughts on Day One of the trial.
I have a sense that we are not going to see justice in the criminal case. I don't care how much money the city gives the family of George Floyd. The point is not to make it so this one family can get something from a place that has done them wrong. The point is to make damned certain there are no other families who have to endure such a thing ever again because of an out of control Police officer.
I hope I'm wrong about not seeing a fair and just verdict.
The thing about this case that will probably lead to a not guilty verdict is the fact that Floyd was not a healthy person. This will give the jury in the case enough of a reason to let Chauvin off the hook; or, I should say, it will lead to a deadlocked jury. I'm not a lawyer or an expert, but I just feel like it is going to go that way.
The political aspects of this are just awful all the way around. How is the city supposed to rebuilt trust in a police department where the union creates a situation like this? Chauvin, like more than a few officers, should never have been on the force. You can't move the case to outstate Minnesota because you won't get a fair trial, plain and simple. You can't risk another round of riots and civil unrest like what happened last summer because the city has suffered so much. The Floyd family has suffered as well. It's a whole city full of suffering because no one had the courage or the common sense to fix the real problem.
As I see it, every police department in the country has to make a decision as to whether or not they want to go through what Minneapolis has had to live through. They have to fix the way they police their citizens and deal with a society that is going to have to change. This isn't a time for patience or waiting. Everything has to change now.
