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Jurors found former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin guilty of multiple murder and manslaughter charges related to the killing of George Floyd on Tuesday, fueling a wave of immediate reaction from Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) advocacy groups and lawmakers.
- “Today’s verdict brings accountability for the murder of George Floyd, who should and would be alive right now were it not for a system that permits and too often excuses the use of excessive force—predominantly against Black people,” said Rep. Judy Chu (D-California), the chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus. “Ending the use of dangerous tactics like choke holds and no knock warrants and limiting the immunity that shields police from accountability for their actions are essential for ending police brutality.”
- “We greet this verdict with relief, but not with celebration,” the Minnesota-based Asian American Organizing Project said in a statement. “Today’s decision does not bring Mr. Floyd back to life. Today’s decision does not erase the collective trauma our communities have experienced since last summer, and in the aftermath of too many murders before.”
- “One verdict cannot right an intrinsically unjust system that continues to devalue Black lives,” Minnesota’s Coalition of Asian American Leaders added. “We hold George Floyd’s family in our hearts and stand with them and all those who knew and loved him.”
- "Community and government leaders must work together to create that trust and fairness in the legal system by combatting bias and safeguarding civil rights, civil liberties, and access to justice for all," the Minnesota Asian Pacific American Bar Association wrote.
- “Until we defund the police, until we empty our prisons, and until the surveillance of our communities ends—there won’t be justice,” the Asian Law Caucus tweeted. “Real justice is our liberation from white supremacy.”
- “Asian Americans will be part of the ongoing fight for police accountability,” the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund said.
Footage of the 46-year-old Black man’s death last year horrified AAPI activists and spurred a nationwide reckoning over race and police brutality.
Images of Tou Thao, a Hmong American officer who stood by as Chauvin kneeled on Floyd’s neck for over nine minutes, also rocked Minnesota’s tight-knit Hmong community and sparked discourse on anti-Blackness in the AAPI community. A trial for three other officers at the scene, including Thao, is set for August.
“In this painful moment, we ask our Asian communities to choose our shared liberation [and commit to] fight for Black lives the way we would our own,” the Minnesota Coalition of Asian American Leaders said in May.
Many mixed-race AAPIs like Ryan Alexander Holmes, a comedian who is Black and Chinese, spoke out about facing racism in the community, shunned because of their darker skin color. “I’m half Asian and grew up with Asians,” he wrote in one Instagram post. “My first racist experiences were from my own people not white people.”
Tennis star Naomi Osaka also faced pushback due to her identity as a Japanese and Black woman. Her Japanese grandparents did not approve of her mother’s relationship with a Black man, and were estranged from Osaka for many years. Growing up in Japan, she often overheard comments like, “Oh, that Black girl. Is she supposed to be Japanese?”
Both Holmes and Osaka have called on AAPIs to stand up for their own.
Following Chauvin and Thao’s firings, more than a dozen national AAPI organizations— including the National Council of Asian Pacific American—urged Congress to take “swift and decisive legislative action” around a range of policing issues.
AAPI activists also urged the Biden administration to create “alternatives to law enforcement” following the shootings at three Atlanta-area massage parlors, which killed eight people, six of whom were Asian women.
Though police brutality most widely targets Black and brown communities, it affects AAPIs, too. In 2015, a 30-year-old Filipno Navy veteran was undergoing a mental health crisis when police showed up and pinned him down by his neck for several minutes—eerily similar to Floyd’s last moments. Angelo Quinto died days later.
Last December, police shot a 19-year-old Chinese American seven times as he was similarly experiencing a breakdown. Footage shows Christian Hall’s arms were up. Floyd’s family lawyer has since taken on the case for Hall, and a petition demanding justice for Hall has garnered over 200,000 signatures.
Ahead of closing arguments in Chauvin’s trial, more than 100 people gathered in Minneapolis’ George Floyd Square to show solidarity among Black and Asian communities, USA Today reports.
Most Asian Americans personally took actions to better understand racial issues in the U.S., with 59% expressing support for the Black Lives Matter movement, an April 2020 NPR/Ipsos poll showed.
A Gallup survey from July of last year also found that 89% of Asian adults support protests over racial injustice, with 74% reporting that the demonstrations affected their views.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
