Biden Commends Chauvin Verdict: ‘This Can Be A Moment Of Significant Change’

President Joe Biden spoke Tuesday afternoon soon after the conviction of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin commending the jury for finding the former officer guilty, but also reminding Americans that their work is not over.

“We can’t leave this moment or look away thinking our work is done,” Biden said in the White House Tuesday. “We have to listen, ‘I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe.’ Those were George Floyd’s last words. We can’t let those words die with him.”

“We must not turn away, we can’t turn away. We have a chance to begin to change the trajectory in this country. It’s my hope and prayer that we live up to the legacy,” Biden added. “This can be a moment of significant change.”

Biden the urged the Senate to pass the police reform bill named in George Floyd’s honor that was passed in the House during their March session. Biden also reassured Americans that the Justice Department, now led by Attorney General Merrick Garland, is committed to establishing trust between police and communities they are tasked to protect.

“Nothing can ever bring their brother, their father back, but this can be a giant step forward in the march toward justice in America. Let’s also be clear that such a verdict is also much too rare,” Biden said Tuesday. “This takes acknowledging and confronting head on systemic racism and the racial disparities that exist in policing and our criminal justice system more broadly.”