NEW YORK — LaCrown Johnson said Derek Chauvin’s 22-and-a-half year sentence Friday was a slap on the wrist.

What You Need To Know

  • A rally was organized by local leaders, the National Action Network, the nonprofit We Are Floyd and other organizations to react to the sentencing and the vandalism at the George Floyd statue in Brooklyn

  • Many protesters said the sentence length was not long enough

  • De Blasio said the sentence does not undo the damage, but it does bring closure

She protested at the George Floyd statue in Flatbush on Friday alongside her 10-year-old stepson Jeremiah, who she was teaching about Floyd’s murder.

“Prejudice and racism really does exist, and if it were me, I’m sure I would’ve probably gotten 25 to life,” Johnson said. “So it’s like, why does he get to come out at 67 years old, still have a family, still live a life?”

Local leaders, the National Action Network, the nonprofit We Are Floyd and other organizations organized the rally.

While protesters hoped for a longer sentence, Mayor Bill de Blasio called Chauvin’s sentence “lengthy and just.”

“It does not undo the damage done or bring back the innocent life stolen from the Floyd family,” the mayor tweeted. “But this does bring closure and a chance to build on further reforms and progress.”

Organizer Courtney Nelson disagrees, but does think Floyd’s murder has led to some progress.

“It’s a sad feeling that we’ve learned to carry these disappointments and this hurt,” Nelson said. “But now we’re stronger, we’re coming together as a community, we’re getting acknowledgment that there is something terribly wrong here in America and it needs to change.”

The protest was also in response to the recent vandalism at the memorial, which has since been removed. The statue was spraypainted black and referenced a group the Southern Poverty Law Center deemed a white nationalist hate group.

The NYPD released surveillance video of who they were looking for. The group ConfrontART initially unveiled the statue on Juneteenth.

“It was very difficult, but then I had to take a step back and say that was very difficult for me, imagine what the Floyd family is going through, imagine what the black experience in America is,” said Lindsay Eshelman, co-founder of ConfrontART.

Police are still looking for whoever defaced the statue. The NYPD’s hate crimes task force is investigating.

------

Did you know you can now watch, read and stay informed with NY1 wherever and whenever you want? Get the new Spectrum News app here.