The following is a letter to the editor that I wrote, which appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer on April 26, 2021, regarding the jury’s verdict in Derek Chauvin’s murder trial and what comes next:
Working toward police reform
Regarding “Cheer, but it’s not over, not even close” (April 21), Jenice Armstrong adroitly captures the feelings we should all have in the wake of the guilty verdict in Derek Chauvin’s murder trial. While we revel in the jubilation we feel knowing that justice was served in this particular case, this is a beginning, not an ending. Our country’s policing needs systematic change, and one guilty verdict is not enough to effectuate the transformation that is required. We cannot forget that Daunte Wright, Breonna Taylor, and far too many other Black people have tragically lost their lives to police misconduct and excessive force in a cycle of violence that underscores the raw racial divisions that regrettably still exist in our nation. It behooves all of us, irrespective of our race or religion, to ensure that George Floyd’s death was not in vain, and to use this verdict as a springboard to advocate for the wholesale reforms that we desperately need and which are long overdue.
N. Aaron Troodler, Bala Cynwyd
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