Published as “Oklahomans renew calls for police, criminal justice reform after Derek Chauvin conviction” on April 21, 2021 in the Tulsa World
A former Minneapolis police officer’s conviction for the murder of George Floyd is a step in the right direction as far as policing and criminal justice reform go, Tulsa activists and leaders said Tuesday.
But with many families still waiting for justice and Oklahoma’s Legislature not taking action on reform, they said much work is yet to be done, and many renewed their calls for reform in Tulsa and Oklahoma.
Tiffany Crutcher said she breathed a sigh of bittersweet relief when Derek Chauvin’s conviction was announced.
Floyd’s family received justice for his death, but she and her family still have not for the 2016 fatal police shooting of her twin brother, Terance Crutcher, she said in a press conference Tuesday. However, Chauvin’s guilty verdicts bring hope to the fight, she said.
“We wish that would have been Betty Shelby,” Tiffany Crutcher said of the then-Tulsa police officer who was acquitted in May 2017 of first-degree manslaughter in the shooting death of her brother. “But today is a hopeful day for people traumatized by police violence in this country.”
After hearing the verdicts Tuesday, she talked to several other family members of people who have been killed by police officers — “so many of the families who didn’t ask to be in this group,” she said. “They are all just simply saying, ‘Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, God, that we finally get to breathe again.’”
The time for her to take a breath is just a short period, though, Tiffany Crutcher said, as Chauvin’s conviction is just a small step toward police reform. She said she hopes it can help her and others continue pushing for policy changes in Tulsa.
Tulsa City Councilor Vanessa Hall-Harper also called Tuesday’s verdict a step in the right direction for the nation.
“I am certainly pleased that a jury, without question, found this man guilty of murder,” Hall-Harper said.
At the same time, she noted, it took an extreme act of violence caught on camera to win a conviction.
“It took something this blatant and this obvious where a man — a white man — literally kneeled on a Black man’s throat and slowly suffocated him,” Hall-Harper said. “And if that hadn’t been televised — it had to be caught on camera for such a verdict to come down.”
Tuesday’s verdict does nothing to change the fact that there is need for police reform, Hall-Harper said.
“We still have a lot of work to do, certainly in states like Oklahoma, where the FOP has, in my opinion, a level of power that should be illegal, and where our Legislature is passing ridiculous laws that put police officers on the same level as God,” she said.
Hall-Harper said she was referring to legislation that she said would place limits on public protests and provide legal protection to drivers who unintentionally injure or kill protesters during a riot.
Alicia Andrews, chairwoman of the Oklahoma Democratic Party, said Oklahoma’s Legislature retaliated and dealt with “symptoms” in those bills instead of actually dealing with police and criminal justice reform.
“Until we hold our legislators and our police officers accountable, we will be here again,” Andrews said. “Getting a verdict we needed as a nation — that doesn’t mean we won’t be here next year after the next police murder.”
Andrews said legislators behind the anti-protest bills were inspired by events in other states, so she is hopeful that Chauvin’s conviction can inspire them, as well.
C.J. Weber-Neal, chairman of the Greenwood Arts and Cultural Society, said this is “one step toward bringing America together in that justice is for all people and not just some.”
“I hope what has been done today will awaken the conscience of politicians and those in courts to say now is the time to bring justice to those who have been denied,” he said.
He said every Oklahoman needs to get involved in the push for equal justice.
Mareo Johnson, founder and president of Black Lives Matter Tulsa, said the verdict sent the message that there can be consequences to taking a life, including a Black life, regardless of whether you’re a law enforcement officer.
He also found hope in the moment, saying he thinks it will help accelerate criminal and justice reform “because I feel that it is setting a tone for that to happen; it’s opening a door to basically better those relations.”
Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum said the conviction proves that the justice system works.
“I have yet to talk with a police officer who wasn’t disgusted by Derek Chauvin’s conduct in the video depicting the murder of George Floyd,” Bynum said.
“Today’s verdict is a reminder that our justice system works and that accountability will be rendered for those who betray that sacred trust between guardians and the citizens they protect.”