The verdict is in: Derek Chauvin is guilty of murdering George Floyd.

For many of us, it feels weird to be able to say that. Even though we all watched Floyd die in front of our eyes on video, in journalism we cannot say someone is guilty until a jury has found them to be guilty. 

Now, we can put words to what we saw; Chauvin murdered Floyd.

For months we saw Floyd demonized by people across the country, saying he deserved to die at the hands of an out-of-control officer. Floyd was by no means a martyr, we will not argue that he was, but we will argue that no one deserves to suffer for nine and half minutes under the weight of a full-grown man just to then have his image dragged through the mud in front of his family for nearly a year after his murder.

His family now has some sort of justice. The court and the world now officially recognizes Chauvin as Floyd’s murderer; not carbon monoxide poisoning, not blocked arteries, not drugs, but Derek Michael Chauvin.

However, Floyd’s family will never be able to see or speak with him again. His daughter will grow up knowing of the impact her father had on the world but she will not be able to grown up with him in her life. Floyd’s family will never truly have justice.

Because of this, we wish for no other family to have to experience what Floyd’s family has. We wish for happier days for his family and for other families affected by police brutality.

But mostly, we wish for this country to truly begin acting like Black lives matter.