April 22, 2021: -President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris praised Tuesday’s guilty verdict in the murder trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin as a step forward in the fight against systemic racism. They also said that more work is pending that is to be done.

On Tuesday, Biden said to the nation, “Today’s verdict is a step forward, But it’s not enough; we can’t stop here. To provide real change and reform, we can, and we must do more to reduce the likelihood that a tragedy like this will ever occur again.”

Chauvin was accused of killing George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, kneeling on his neck for about nine minutes. Last May, the former officer’s conduct, which was captured on video, set off a nationwide firestorm of protests and unrest against police brutality and racism.

“Smartphones are the reason so many Americans have now seen the racial injustice that Black American’s have known for generations,” Harris said alongside Biden. “We are all part of George Floyd’s legacy, and our job is to honor it and honor him,” Harris added.

“Let that be his legacy,” Biden said, “A legacy of peace, not violence, of justice. Peaceful expressions of that legacy are inevitable and appropriate. But violent protest is not. And some will seek to exploit the raw emotions of the moment, agitators and extremists who have no interest in social justice, who seek to carry out violence, to destroy the properties, fan the flames of hate and division, who can do everything in their power to stop this country’s march toward racial justice. We can’t let them succeed.

“This is the time for this country to come together, to unite as Americans. There can never be any safe harbor for hate in America,” Biden added.

After reading the verdict, the judge said that sentencing would take place in eight weeks. Chauvin was handcuffed and escorted out of the courtroom. A trial for three of the other officers involved in Floyd’s arrest, Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Kueng, and Tou Thao, is set to begin in August.