SACRAMENTO, Calif. — While the Derek Chauvin trial may happening in Minneapolis, its effects can be felt around the country, including Sacramento.
Community activist and founder of Voice of the Youth, Berry Accius, shared with ABC10 how he's taking it all in.
"For many of us, this is another black man, another black woman, that has been murdered by police," Accius said. "So the trauma, the stress, we walk with it every day."
Accius took issue with the defense's tactics during the trial, saying that George Floyd isn't the one who needs to defend himself. He said the focus should be on Chauvin.
"We don't need to know about George Floyd's drugs," Accius said. "We don't need to know about his criminal history," Accius said.
Accius says that the arguments the defense used is another example that Black people need to prove that they don't deserve to be killed as punishment for a crime.
"So as a black person, even in our death, we have to still fight," Accius said. "And that's the sad part about America. It's like I die, and I still have to fight and convince you that I'm human."
Still, Accius is happy to see that Chauvin's peers are not standing with him during his trial.
"They're leaving this guy, Derek, out there to fend for himself," Accius said. "And to me, that makes me smile. But again, nothing is cut in stone until we get a guilty verdict."
