JUDY WOODRUFF: And Amna Nawaz now gets reaction from a community leader in Minnesota -- Amna.
AMNA NAWAZ: That's right, Judy. Well, in the neighboring city of St. Paul, we're going
to take a closer look now at how the jury's decision is coming down. Melvin Carter is
the mayor of St. Paul, which, along with its neighboring Minneapolis, form the state's
Twin Cities. He's also the first African American to hold that office. And he joins us now.
Mayor Carter, welcome back to the "NewsHour," and thank you for making the time. So, Derek
Chauvin has been found guilty on all three counts. What was your immediate reaction when
you heard the news? MELVIN CARTER, Mayor of St. Paul, Minnesota: You know, thanks for
having me on. I was one of the people outside the Hennepin County courthouse today as the
verdict was read, and I was speechless. The crowd out there was, of course, waiting on
pins and needles to try to see what the verdict would be. Someone shouted "Guilty," and a
sigh of relief. It was as though oxygen was provided to the room, to everybody in that
space for the first time in quite a long time. We know that we have much more work to do.
We have another trial here. We will have -- we will see a trial ultimately for Daunte Wright,
and we have a lot of work to do in our legislative session as well. But, today, this is an important
milestone. AMNA NAWAZ: You know, Mayor, you and I spoke the day after George Floyd was
killed, May 26 of 2020. And since then, the entire world has come to know his name. They
have watched that video. There have been protests in his name around the world. In this trial,
everyone has been watching and waiting for the verdict. To you, what was at stake in
that courtroom? MELVIN CARTER: Everything was at stake in that courtroom. First of all,
I will say, I think the lady who shot the video we have all now seen deserves a Pulitzer
Prize for her work, because that's one of the most consequential works of media that
we have seen in a generation. Obviously, the accused, Officer Chauvin, his future and his
fate was at stake, but far more than that, as the rest of the world looks at this atrocious
act that any civilization throughout the course of history anywhere could look at and say,
that's wrong, that's murder. And we had to sit on pins and needles for almost a full
year to learn whether or not our legal system had the capacity to convict someone and hold
someone accountable. It's not to be taken for granted. We saw Eric Garner, who was choked
to death, who said "I can't breathe" 11 times, and no one was held accountable for his killing.
We have asked ourselves time and time again, how bad does it have to be? How brazen does
it have to be? How well-documented does it have to be for someone to be held accountable?
We have established, I think, hopefully a baseline today. But we have a lot of work
to do to build on top of that baseline. But it gives us an opportunity to start looking
up and moving toward a brighter day in our country. AMNA NAWAZ: As you mentioned, there
are other trials ahead as well. You and I last spoke a year ago -- or, rather, last
May, and you had mentioned, of course, there were other officers there. And those three
other officers who were on the scene will also face trials. We believe they're scheduled
for August now. What do you believe this verdict holds for accountability in those cases? MELVIN
CARTER: You know, I don't know. Those officers, of course, have their day in court, and they
have their due process as well. What I shared with you then is what I continue to believe
now, is that the fact that every time something like this happens, somebody might want to
say, well, this is a bad apple, this is one act of an individual person. But the fact
that you had Officer Derek Chauvin, who the jury has now confirmed murdered George Floyd
and has been convicted of that murder, and while he did it, there were three other officers
guarding the scene, holding people back, helping hold George Floyd down. That speaks to a culture
that we must address, that we must eradicate in our communities. This is about seeing justice
in a courtroom. But as one of the young men who is speaking out at the rally today said,
justice is living in a world where George Floyd was never murdered in the first place.
So this is about seeing justice in the courtroom. But then it's also about seeing justice in
our police practices. It's about seeing justice in our legislation. It's about seeing justice
in case law. We have an enormous amount of work to do from there. And I will tell you,
in my mind, and certainly on the minds of the folks I saw outside at that rally today,
our minds are all on all of that enormous body of work ahead. AMNA NAWAZ: Mayor Carter,
in a few seconds we have left, as a leader in your community, as an elected official,
when you look back at the trauma of the last year, people watching this video over and
over, the stress and anxiety of waiting for a verdict, and now this one moment today,
this one moment of accountability, how do you lead your community forward out of this?
MELVIN CARTER: You're right. It's been an enormous amount of trauma. In that moment,
when that voice shouted "Guilty," and all around me, some people were happy and started
smiling. Some people just burst out in tears. Some people dropped to their knees and started
praying, at -- all at the same time. We have a lot to knit back together. We have a future
to build. We have committed ourselves already through this framework that we call our Community
First Public Safety Framework that says we need a public safety framework that's a lot
more proactive than we have seen over the past generation. I'm fortunate to serve a
community that's already been all in on this work far before George Floyd was murdered.
And we're going to continue to push that body of work forward. AMNA NAWAZ: The mayor of
St. Paul, Minnesota, Melvin Carter, joining us tonight. Thank you for your time, Mr. Mayor.
MELVIN CARTER: Thank you.