The Minnesota Republican Party reportedly held a moment of silence for convicted murderer Derek Chauvin at its endorsement convention Saturday, which came just days after the sixth anniversary of George Floyd’s death.
Saturday’s proceedings began with a 10-second moment of silence for Chauvin, according to the Minnesota Reformer and a Minnesota lawmaker.
Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer, was convicted of murdering Floyd in 2021 and was sentenced to a 21-year federal sentence and a 22.5-year state sentence. He is serving the sentences concurrently.
Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, was killed by Chauvin, a white city cop, during a 2020 arrest after the former officer kneeled on his neck for more than 9 minutes.
Minnesota state Rep. Jamie Long said the moment of silence was “disgusting” in a post on X.
“The MN GOP opened their convention with a moment of silence for Derek Chauvin,” the Democrat said Sunday. “Not for those we lost to gun violence. Not for soldiers killed overseas. To a literal convicted murderer. Disgusting.”
Minnesota Reformer reporter Max Nesterak also commented on the moment of silence.
“State of the political parties: Minnesota Republicans held a moment of silence for Derek Chauvin at their endorsement convention while Democrats confiscated glow sticks because of the potential risk to a small subset of epileptics,” he wrote in an X post Saturday.
The Independent has requested comment from the Minnesota GOP.
The moment of silence suggests there’s still a gulf between the parties when it comes to issues of racial justice in policing.
Video images capturing Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck while the man cried out that he could not breathe sparked nation-wide protests and forced lawmakers at all levels of government to examine claims of racial injustice in American policing.
On the sixth anniversary of Floyd’s death, his uncle, Selwyn Jones, spoke with Fox 9 about what’s changed since May 2020, and what hasn’t.
“Not enough change,” he told the broadcaster. “But as long as we keep fighting, as long as this event keeps happening, yes, and showing unity.”
Floyd’s aunt, Angela Harrelson, told the network her standard for when enough has been done.
“When we get to the point where we don’t have to say the words Black Lives Matter, then that’s when we know we have arrived.”
Meanwhile, Chauvin remains in prison.
The former police officer has pursued multiple appeals since his conviction. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear his case in November 2023, which effectively upheld his state conviction without offering a ruling.
After that attempted failed, he has shifted his focus to overturning his federal conviction. His appeal argues that his counsel was ineffective and had has requested to have preserved tissue samples from Floyd’s autopsy examined.
In his 2023 appeal to his federal sentencing, Chauvin asked that judge who presided over his trial to toss out his conviction and to order a new trial or an evidentiary hearing considering the tissue samples, according to PBS.
