Press Releases

Today, Congresswoman Frederica S. Wilson issued the following statement in response the jurors' verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial:

"I am both elated and relieved that the jurors in the Derek Chauvin trial delivered a swift verdict of on all counts. They believed their eyes and justice prevailed. I am also relieved for the Floyd family, who throughout this ordeal has acted with extraordinary bravery and grace.

"For decades, law enforcement officers have needlessly killed unarmed black men and boys without recrimination. This verdict sends a powerful message that such disregard for human lives will no longer be tolerated and that rogue police officers will face very serious consequences for their reckless behavior.

"The Derek Chauvin trial was about so much more than the outcome. Our nation's criminal justice system also was on trial and this outcome says a lot about whether any real lessons have been learned about the imperative to hold police accountable for irresponsible and deadly behaviors, especially the fatal shootings of unarmed people.

"Of course, one favorable outcome does not exonerate our entire criminal justice system or signal that the wrongs, against which millions protested in the past year, have been righted. It does give us hope, however, that the long arc of the moral universe now bends toward justice."