pegkerr | 52 Card Project 2021: Week 16: Convicted (Reply)

It's difficult to describe what the last week in Minneapolis has been like if you're not living here. If the verdict in the Chauvin trial had not come in, this past week's card would have been about the National Guard occupation, which was extraordinary, unlike anything I've seen in my entire life. (A headline that I photographed and planned to put over photographs of boarded-up buildings read "Guard Tightens Grip on Metro.") That's what it felt like, with military vehicles trundling by in long processions, armed guards on the streets, toting firepower, and pallets of barriers piled up at all the highway on-ramps, ready to close off highways at a moment's notice.

People were on edge as they went about their business. And then the word came down that the verdict would be announced within the hour.

I know that people were listening around the entire world as the verdict was read, and the city gasped out a big exhale of relief.

Derek Chauvin was convicted on all three charges.

I thought about joining the gathering at George Floyd Square afterward. (The photograph here shows the street leading up to it, strewn with flowers.) I did not. Instead, I sat in my home and thought of him, and all the people who fought to seek justice.

(Compare the design of this week's card to last week's.

Convicted