Floyd's death under Chauvin's knee was captured on video and seen by millions. It sparked nationwide protests against racial injustice and police brutality, and it spurred debate about racial privilege and systemic inequity.
"We oftentimes just see the trial and we don't have any video of the killing," said Rashad Robinson, president of Color of Change, the country's largest online racial justice organization. This time, "we saw the crime, and now we're seeing the trial."
Still, the widespread availability of trial video, particularly clips of key moments, could make it hard to avoid for people who feel overwhelmed by the coverage and the intertwining issues of race and police violence. For jurors, livestreaming makes it that much harder to keep clear of the news and remain impartial.
The Black community has long been skeptical of the justice system. Samantha Pree-Stinson, a community organizer in Minneapolis, recalled watching the O.J. Simpson trial as a kid. She said Black communities celebrated the fact that a Black man could "buck the system."
In a world of misinformation and media bubbles, "seeing with our own eyes and hearing with our own ears exactly what is being said and how people are being spoken to" is crucial, Pree-Stinson said.
She has used jury selection to educate her 15-year-old and 10-year-old sons, who have asked how court works and have expressed disgust about the case, she said.
The core issue of the trial is expected to be whether Floyd died because of the pressure of Chauvin's knee on his neck or, as the defense is expected to argue, because of drugs in Floyd's system and his health issues.
It's important for the public to see arguments "being made on behalf of police officers," Robinson said. "We are working to deal with a set of laws that incentivize police to kill us without accountability. ... So I think it's good the public sees how these laws operate and have to ask themselves, do they want these laws on the books in their names?"
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