‘It felt like the bare minimum’: readers respond to the Derek Chauvin verdict

The guilty verdict in the case of George Floyd's murder felt to some like a weight lifted off but for many highlighted the need for radical police reform

Like so many, I immediately felt relieved. I'd been sitting in my office for three weeks, refreshing the news coverage, and on that final day I had a knot in my stomach that only got bigger the closer they came to announcing the verdict. I supported defunding the police, in the sense that money would be moved away from police departments toward other social programs and offices, but not do away with traditional policing as a whole. The recent shootings of Daunte Wright and Ma'Khia Bryant have me leaning more towards abolition.