But otherwise, there is little evidence that the messages of each party will change, with Democrats rallying around measures of race and extensive police reforms and Republicans putting law and order first. The attacks on each are likely to be well-known: Democrats will continue to portray the IDP as a party that is hostile to the interests of people of color, while Republicans will continue to portray the Democrats as a party of extremists who ‘police’ ‘will defend’.
Following the ruling, nearly every Democrat at every level has issued statements, many of which announce a “step forward” for racial justice as they continue to call for reforms – a sign of the importance of the issue before the midterm elections and 2024
But on the Republican side, almost the opposite was true – few lawmakers saw a need to weigh in at all. And since the death of George Floyd in May last year, the messages of the IDP have remained more focused on the prospect of civil unrest than the police violence that caused it.
For almost a year – even though the murder of Floyd shed light on the recent deaths of dozens of other colored people, including Breonna Taylor, Elijah McClain and Daunte Wright – the Democrats witnessed the police reform and aligned themselves with their base of black voters in last year’s elections. Republicans responded in an open appeal to suburban whites to a summer of civil uprisings with calls for law and order.
In the run-up to Chauvin’s ruling, Republican attention was drawn to the protests against police brutality, characterized by the institution of legislation in more than 30 states to curb protests. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a leading candidate in 2024, signed a controversial riot bill this week.
After the decision was rendered, DeSantis speculated that the prospect of unrest might have influenced the jury’s decision. ‘If it’s something that could possibly happen, where you are basically correcting justice, because the jury is afraid of what a mob might do – and again, I’m not saying it happened here … [but] it is completely antithetical to the rule of law. ‘
“To think [rioting] going to influence how the legal system is applied would be a total disaster if that idea takes hold, ” he said.
Wednesday morning, while the black communities breathe a sigh of relief and talk about the work yet to be done, Kevin McCarthy, leader of the House of Representatives, still spoke about the failed attempt to rep. Criticizing Maxine Waters (D-California) for speaking to protesters in Minnesota. over the weekend to “stay on the streets” and “become more confrontational.”
In an interview with Fox News, he said the Democrats had the opportunity to “condemn this violent rhetoric”, and rather “they approved it, which only weakens the House of Representatives and the Department of Justice.”
This required Senator Tim Scott, the lone black senator from the GOP, who last summer introduced the GOP’s police reform bill, to push the party in a new direction. In a lengthy statement Tuesday, he said that while the verdict ‘should we give renewed confidence in the integrity of our legal system, we know that more work needs to be done to ensure that the bad apples do not define all officers – the vast majority of them wear the uniform every day with integrity and serving harte. ”
More typical were the reactions of conservatives in Congress and the media confirming the ruling as proof of the justice system, and that the calls of progressives for comprehensive reform of criminal law were rejected as unnecessary.
For the GOP bombing caucus, Georgia’s representative Marjorie Taylor Greene said on Twitter on Tuesday, saying ‘DC is completely dead tonight. People stayed and were afraid to go out for fear of riots. ‘
She wrote: “#BLM is the strongest terrorist threat in our country.”
Just as the verdict on Tuesday revealed much about the ongoing political resonance of racial justice and policing ahead of the midterm elections, it also suggested how little the form of the debate is likely to change.
Omari Hardy, a black progressive campaigning for legislation that reconsiders policing, gave an overview of the political consequences of the ruling. That was not the justice we stood for. It is justice in the thinnest sense of the word. ”
He said: ‘We have been divided over the value of black lives for over four centuries, so it does not surprise me that this is a divisive issue. There have been and always will be people who do not appreciate black lives. ”
Even during the trial of Chauvin, dozens of people nationwide killed by police. And just moments after reading the verdict, there were news of another fatal police shooting: 16-year-old, Ma’Khia Bryant.
“There’s a lot of relief today, and that’s a positive thing,” said Mike Erlandson, a former Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party chairman. “But about the same time we take a deep breath, there will be another trial of another police officer.”
It is possible that concerns about racial justice and the need for police reform will gain more traction in the midterm elections than in the 2020 campaign, a race in which the coronavirus pandemic overshadows all other issues. Even then, a historic summer of civil unrest resounded during the presidential race and local races across the country.
Doug Herman, who was a chief post strategist for Barack Obama’s 2008 and 2012 campaigns, said: “It was a big problem in 2020, it’s still going to be a problem in 2022.”
Last year, he said, “The Republican Party had two attacks that made them somewhat successful, which was that the Democrats want to defend the police and they are all socialists.” For Democrats, he said, “We’ve turned another round in the reform battle, but we’re still far from the end.”
Locally, there appears to be political movement in the ruling in Minnesota, a critical swing state, where protests have given way to scenes of car horns blaring and activists crying for relief. State Attorney General Keith Ellison called the result a “first step towards justice”. For Ellison, the former lawmaker who oversaw Chauvin’s prosecution, the ruling was a major victory. And resolving the issue will be a relief to Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, who did it. come under criticism of progressive people after the assassination of Wright and the conduct of protests in the state.
More broadly, Michael Brodkorb, a former vice president of the Minnesota Republican Party, said the finality of a ruling could increase support for police reforms – and for the candidates who ask for it.
“Whoever wants to pick up the mantle, I think, will find a receptive audience,” Brodkorb said. “Right now … the thoughtful discussion of meaningful reforms is being advocated by Democrats for the most part.”
In fact, Floyd’s death and subsequent protests led to cities and states adopting reforms, ranging from measures to increase transparency to a ban on stitching and ‘no-knock’ warrants. Some places reduce their funding of the police department, as activists called for money to be spent on early intervention and other non-policing measures to improve public safety.
Yet the parameters of the debate surrounding the measures have not changed significantly.
When the Chauvin trial opened last month, a USA Today / Ipsos poll found Americans’ support for the Black Lives Matter movement has declined in the 11 months since Floyd’s death, while confidence in law enforcement has increased. More than two-thirds of Americans – 69 percent – trust the police to promote justice and equal treatment of people of all races, 13 percentage points higher than last year. Meanwhile, half of Americans feel the same about Black Lives Matter.
In a separate poll this month by Morning Consult, found a decline in the proportion of Americans who view police violence as a serious problem – by 10 percentage points from last year, to 69 percent. In both cases, the gap between black and white Americans is large.
Rashad Robinson, president of the non-profit Civil Rights Group Color of Change, said: ‘I do not think [the] pronunciation inherently changes anything. ”
He distinguishes cases of liability of concern about justice and says that the latter “cannot be served by 12 jurors. It’s going to come from changing the rules, from changing the policies and the practices. ”