Rev. Al Sharpton Delivers Passionate Reaction to Chauvin Verdict: ‘We Don’t Celebrate a Man Going to Jail. We Would Have Rather George Be Alive’

Rev. Al Sharpton delivered a passionate speech alongside George Floyd’s family after Derek Chauvin was found guilty on all charges — noting that while he and the family are satisfied with the verdict, they “don’t find pleasure in this.”

Sharpton opened by thanking those who took on the case and fought for Floyd and his family, adding that the “family stood with pain, suffering, and not knowing what the future held because so many families went and got nothing.”

“Let George know that his name is going down in history,” he said. “They may have put the knee on his neck, but he will now be a figure that we will take the knees off our necks now.”

Sharpton also noted that this marks the first time in history that a White Minnesota police officer has been convicted of murder, clarifying that although they now have the energy to continue, “the war and the fight is not over.”

“We don’t find pleasure in this,” he added. “We don’t celebrate a man going to jail. We would have rather George be alive. But we celebrate that we, because young people, White and Black, some castigated, many that are here tonight, marched and kept marching and kept going. Many of them looked down on, but they kept marching and wouldn’t let this die. And this is an assurance to them that if we don’t give up that we can win some rounds.”

Sharpton later linked arms with Floyd’s family and legal team, blessing those who worked on the case and “made this prosecution something they couldn’t deny,” adding, “Bless those policemen that got on the stand and testified against another policeman.”

“We will bring it for Eric Garner and Breonna Taylor, whose boyfriend is here tonight,” he said. “So many that did not get this night, this night is for them. Let us pray. Let’s lock arms and pray.”

Watch above, via MSNBC.

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