Dean Pak Addresses the Chauvin Trial Verdicts
April 21, 2021 
Dear Beloved Community,
Moments before the verdicts of the Derek Chauvin trial came in a little after 5pm ET yesterday, I found myself trembling, holding my breath, afraid, yet hopeful. Then the verdicts were announced, and I let out a long breath. Many of us have been holding our breath for weeks, months, almost a year. We get to breathe. George Floyd did not.
Moreover, it increasingly dawned on me that the very fear that the verdicts might be otherwise than what was announced is case in point of the problems we are facing. Justice was (thankfully) served with the guilty verdicts against Derek Chauvin, but there is a long road ahead of this nation in the work of establishing more just practices, more just structures, more just expectations, and more just systems.
And yet…just twenty minutes prior to the announcement of these guilty verdicts, another Black life was taken by a police officer. Sixteen-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant was shot four times in Columbus, OH at 4:35 pm yesterday. We still live in a world where fatal force is too often the customary response to instances involving Black and Brown bodies. Our hearts break for Ma’Khia Bryant’s family, friends, and community. Our bodies tremble with anger.
“…there is a long road ahead of this nation in the work of establishing more just practices, more just structures, more just expectations, and more just systems.”
We still live in a world where a young Black man gets shot because of the potential threat that he posed by trying to get back into his car because of his (apparently very correct) fear of the police. That a police officer can mistake a gun for a taser is simply unacceptable. Our hearts break for Daunte Wright’s family, friends, and community. Our bodies tremble with anger.
We still live in a world where a thirteen-year-old Brown boy gets shot by the police even when he is cooperating. Our hearts break for Adam Toledo’s family, friends, and community. Our bodies tremble with anger.
We still live in a world where the victims of these incidents get blamed because he had a misdemeanor on his record…because he ran away…because he had a heart condition…because they did not comply soon enough or in the right way…
I have two exhortations.
First, these verdicts are a hopeful step. It is that, even as there is a long, hard road ahead to foster lasting change. Hold on to hope.
Second, the exhaustion among Black and Brown communities is real, palpable, crushing. This is one of many reasons why cross-advocacy—advocacy across groups—is so essential. When one of us is down in the dirt, face crushed to the ground, others of us must speak up, bear witness, stand solidly in the role of advocate and ally. We cannot allow ourselves to be siloed; we cannot continue to think my cause is more important than another’s or that another’s injustice detracts attention from my own experience of injustice. Rather, compassion is all the more imperative—more than compassion, empathy. And more than empathy, there is the call to action and advocacy—advocacy on behalf of an ‘other,’ especially when exhaustion has overwhelmed them. Be a vessel of compassion. Embrace empathy. Take up the call of advocacy.
The School of Theology will be dedicating a series of lectures and workshops over the next two years to fostering behaviors of anti-racism, cross-advocacy, intersectionality, and solidarity as we look to name and address painful histories and steward practices for the flourishing and upholding of human dignity. This is just one faithful step in a much larger journey.
G. Sujin Pak, dean