Gloria Purvis, the Rev. Bryan N. Massingale, MT Dávila, Anthea Butler, Kim Harris, Shannen Dee Williams and Jeremy V. Cruz share their reactions to the murder conviction of Derek Chauvin.

We are told that this is justice served, and yet there remains a man who should still be breathing who instead is dead.

“The death of George Floyd highlighted and amplified the deep need to see the sacredness in all people, but especially those who have been historically oppressed,” read a statement from the U.S. bishops' conference.

The day before the Chauvin verdict was announced, Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda and priests across the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis offered special Masses "For the Preservation of Peace and Justice."

Addressing a congregation of about 120 people at the Cathedral of St. Paul's 7:30 a.m. daily Mass in St. Paul, the archbishop referred to the multiplication of the loaves and fishes in St. John's Gospel and Philip's temptation to do nothing in the face of the challenge to feed the crowd.

“My neighborhood, my family and I have a right to live without a nuclear gun on hair-trigger alert held perpetually to our heads,” Colville told the judge.