Biden calls 'systemic racism' a 'stain on our nation's soul'
US President Joe Biden called systemic racism a "stain on our nation's soul" in a televised address to the country Tuesday after a white former officer was convicted of murdering a Black man during an arrest.
Biden spoke out after a jury in the Midwestern city of Minneapolis found Derek Chauvin guilty of intentionally suffocating handcuffed George Floyd as he lay defenseless, with the officer's knee pressing on his neck for a lot more than nine minutes.
The president needed "confronting head on systemic racism and the racial disparities that exist in policing and our criminal justice system" - but pleaded for protesters to stay away from violence.
"There are those that will seek to exploit the raw feelings in the moment - agitators and extremists who have no interest in social justice," he warned. "We can't let them succeed."
A jury deliberated less than 11 hours before finding the 45-year-old Chauvin guilty of all three charges against him - second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter.
The unanimous verdict came after a racially charged three week trial that was seen as a pivotal test of police accountability in america.
Appearing alongside Biden, Kamala Harris, America's first Black vice president, spoke first to articulate the "relief" the country was feeling over justice being served but acknowledged that the effect couldn't "take away the pain" of Floyd's murder.
"A way of measuring justice is not exactly like equal justice. This verdict brings us a step closer. We still have work to do. We still need to reform the system," she said.
She vowed to work with Biden to urge the Senate to pass "long overdue" legislation on police accountability, saying Black men have been treated as "significantly less than humans" throughout US history.
"This is actually the truth about racial injustice: It isn't only a Black America problem or a 'people of color' problem. This is a problem for each and every American," she said. - AFP
