DULUTH — The Minnesota Republican Party held a moment of silence for Derek Chauvin during its annual convention in Duluth on the second morning of the two-day event. Attendees stood in silence for about 10 seconds before the start of official business, following a request from a delegate.
Chauvin was sentenced to 22-and-a-half years in prison in 2021 for the second-degree murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020. He received a separate, concurrent 21-year sentence in 2022 for violating Floyd’s civil rights. State courts have repeatedly declined to grant Chauvin a new trial, and the U.S. Supreme Court denied his final appeal in 2023. The death of Floyd, who was Black, at the hands of Chauvin, who is white, led to violent protests in Minneapolis and a broader national discussion over police brutality and racial injustice tied to the Black Lives Matter movement.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison called the moment of silence “an act of profound cruelty” to George Floyd’s family and “disrespectful” to Minnesota’s law enforcement personnel. “This decision dishonors the memory of George Floyd and wounds his loved ones all over again,” Ellison said. He added: “To honor the man convicted of murdering George Floyd – days after the very anniversary of that terrible day – is an act of profound cruelty to the Floyd family and to every Minnesotan who believes in accountability under law.” Ellison also wrote: “George Floyd’s children lost their father. His siblings lost their brother. His community lost a neighbor and friend. That loss is permanent and irreparable.”
Democratic state lawmaker Jamie Long called the gesture “disgusting.” Long noted on X that Minnesota Republicans “opened their convention with a moment of silence for Derek Chauvin. Not for those we lost to gun violence. Not for soldiers killed overseas. To a literal convicted murderer. Disgusting.” The Minnesota Republican Party did not immediately return a request for comment.