In a catharsis for a nation rocked by protests and racial tension for nearly a year, a White former policeman has been convicted of murdering an African American man by kneeling on his neck. President Joe Biden said after the verdict in April that the killing had “ripped the blinders off for the whole world to see the systemic racism” in the US. The verdict against Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis brought a sense of relief and peaceful celebrations around the country after fears that he may be acquitted or convicted only on lesser charges.

The killing of George Floyd while he was being arrested on allegations that he paid a store with a forged note in May last year was the catalyst for a reckoning of the centuries of oppression on racial minorities in the US and led to a reexamination of attitudes, laws and traditions, going beyond just police brutality.