'It's A Monumental Day': Sacramento Activists React To Chauvin Verdict
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) - After three guilty verdicts were delivered by a Minnesota jury this afternoon, locals activists in Sacramento hit the streets not to protest the death of George Floyd, but to applaud the guilty verdicts and honor Floyd's life.
"It's a monumental day because someone is actually being held accountable for their actions," said Sacramento resident Renee Collins.
After a year of protests and demonstrations in Sacramento, locals are hoping people will take to Sacramento city streets for a different reason.
"We're hoping there's celebration and the coming together of different cultures and the ability to embrace one another," she says.
Three guilty verdicts in Minneapolis on Tuesday were felt 1,500 miles away in Sacramento.
"Once we heard the verdict, of course, I was happy but at the same time my heart breaks for the fact that George Floyd had to suffer the way he did," said Leia Schenk, Founder of EMPACT.
One Sacramento family is all too familiar with that heartbreak.
"Justice for George Floyd is a little justice for all of those like my family that have been affected," said Stephon Clark's brother Stevante Clark.
After court adjourned Tuesday, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Elison read the names of people who have died at the hands of police, Stephon Clark who was killed by Sacramento police back in 2018, was one of them.
"It made me feel like the legacy of Stephon…stretched out from here in Sacramento all the way down to Minneapolis, Minnesota," said Stevante.
He says he was by Floyd's family side just recently.
"George Floyd is dead," he said. "The way the family could be feeling if you ask me, they miss Stephon, they miss George Floyd."
Despite justice for Floyd, Sacramento activists say the fight against police brutality is far from over.
"Although this is not a celebratory moment, it's still is the moment that we hope set the precedence for every killing that comes after this and the killings that still have not received accountability," said Schenk.