Families of Black Men Killed by Police Speak Out After Minnesota GOP Convention Holds Moment of Silence for Derek Chauvin
Contributing writer Clint Combs reports on the outrage from families of Black men killed by police after Minnesota Republican convention delegates held a moment of silence for Derek Chauvin, with Courteney Ross, Valerie Castile and Toshira Garroway each speaking out about what the tribute meant and what it revealed about efforts to rewrite history around Floyd's murder.
The families and loved ones of Black men killed by police are outraged after Minnesota Republican delegates held a moment of silence for the disgraced former Minneapolis cop serving more than 22 years in prison for the murder of George Floyd.
At the state endorsement convention in Duluth, delegate Christopher Rocco called for a 30-second pause, saying he wanted “a moment of reflection for Derek Chauvin who should get a state retrial, who should get a federal pardon.”
Kendall Qualls later secured the GOP endorsement for governor. A photo published the next day in the Pioneer Press shows Rocco embracing Qualls after his endorsement. Qualls dodged questions on whether he would have approved the moment of silence.
“That was probably not the venue to do that, or the timing to do that,” Qualls told WCCO radio. “I do have my own concerns about the trial itself and the condition of Derek Chauvin, how he was treated.”
The Minnesota Republican Party didn’t condemn the vigil or issue an apology, though it did try to distance itself from the episode.
“To be clear, party leadership did not support this motion,” the state GOP posted on social media. “The moment of silent prayer was a spontaneous motion brought forward from the convention floor. It was not part of the official convention program, it was not proposed by Convention Chairman Danny Nadeau, and it was not a statement from party leadership.”
But for families of Black men killed by police in Minnesota, the distinction offered little comfort.
Courteney Ross, Floyd’s girlfriend at the time of his death, called out Republican delegates who didn’t object to the motion and remained silent.
“You all had the opportunity to honor fallen soldiers or children who lost their lives at Annunciation [Church],” Ross said. “Instead, you took precious time to purposely hurt everyone who loved Floyd and every other family who has lost a loved one to the police.”
Valerie Castile, whose son Philando was shot and killed by a St. Anthony officer during a traffic stop in 2016, said she initially assumed Chauvin had died, the only context in which a moment of silence made sense to her. The tribute, she said, was especially jarring coming just three days after the sixth anniversary of Floyd’s death.
“If a group of people decided three days after 9/11 to say, let’s give a moment of silence to Bin Laden, how would the American people feel then?” Castile said. “Our kids had dreams, goals, aspirations.”
Toshira Garroway started a grassroots support group after the death of her fiancé Justin Teigen in August 2009. She was perplexed at the tribute given Minnesota’s history of police killings of Black men. She acknowledged that there was no moment of silence for Nicole M. Amor, the Army reservist from White Bear Lake killed in an Iranian drone strike in March. There was no moment of silence for Daunte Wright, shot and killed by former Brooklyn Center officer Kim Potter, who claimed she mistook her firearm for a Taser. There was no tribute for Philando Castile, shot and killed by officer Jeronimo Yanez during a traffic stop in 2016.
“So why does Derek Chauvin deserve a moment of silence?” Garroway said. “It’s because it’s a white man that killed a Black man.”
Comparatively, Minneapolis officers Mark Ringgenberg and Dustin Schwarze didn’t receive a moment of silence when they shot and killed Jamar Clark in 2015, raising further questions beyond race around impact.
Garroway said the homage is part of a broader effort by conservative media and online influencers to cast doubt on Chauvin’s conviction by pushing debunked claims that a fentanyl overdose was primarily responsible for Floyd’s death.
Garroway said she watched the campaign to rewrite history play out in real time. “First, it went that he died in officer’s custody. Then it went from that to he died from a drug overdose,” Garroway said. “We see the narrative switch in front of us while we’re watching this video that went all over the world.”
The Spokesman-Recorder reached out to Qualls, Republican House Speaker Lisa Demuth and Republican Attorney General candidate Ron Schutz for comment, asking whether they would support efforts to reduce Chauvin’s state sentence through Minnesota’s clemency process and whether they support calls for President Donald Trump to pardon Chauvin. None responded.
Under changes to state law in 2023, Minnesota’s governor, attorney general and chief justice of the Supreme Court sit on the pardon board, and a pardon or commutation can be granted with the governor’s vote plus at least one of the other two members, no longer requiring unanimity.
Clint Combs welcomes reader responses at combs0284@ggmail.com.