BOSTON (WHDH) - About a hundred rallygoers gathered in Nubian Square in Roxbury Wednesday evening to celebrate the conviction of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.
Civil Rights advocate and rally organizer Monica Cannon-Grant spoke to the crowd and many assembled said the feeling of victory following Tuesday’s historic verdict was short-lived. For them, it was replaced by a grim realization of what they had gone through and the long fight to end police brutality that lies ahead.
“I know many of us are frustrated, especially if you woke up Black this morning, that even though we had that drop in the bucket yesterday they didn’t hesitate an hour later to shoot and kill a 15-year-old young girl,” Cannon-Grant said.
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Those who spoke to 7NEWS said there are still people getting killed every day in America and the verdict did not necessarily do anything to immediately change the criminal justice system.
“Nothing has changed. That’s the accountability it’s not justice. Justice is that every family that’s been killed gets their killer cop convicted and jailed,” Local activist Naim Ball said.
Around 6 p.m. the group marched on to Boston Police Headquarters chanting the name of Daunte Wright, a man who was killed during a traffic stop in Minnesota after officer Kimberly Potter claimed to have mistaken her gun for a Tazer.
They also mentioned the name of former Boston police officer Patrick Rose who was investigated in the 1990s for sexual assault of a child and allegedly allowed back onto the force through the work of the police union.
They say this is another example of a system that does not hold officers accountable for their actions.
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Mass. Action Against Police Brutality held another rally at the Massachusetts State House with the goal of helping the families of victims of police brutality get justice.
“To see them tell you to follow these laws, but they can skirt them because they wear blue uniforms because they carry a badge because they don’t feel like telling you their name because they’re having a bad day- we have to fear for our Black sons, whether they’re going to see another day,” said Carla Sheffield whose son was killed by police.
Another rally is scheduled for Saturday.
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