A jury of 12 Minnesotans did more than convict ex-policeman Chauvin Tuesday on all counts of murdering Floyd by squeezing the life out of him with a knee to the neck. In a profound moment of modern American history, they offered a measure of optimism that Americans of all races will one day be treated equally and that malign police officers can be held accountable to the laws they are meant to enforce.

The verdict will not bring Floyd back from an unnecessary death. Nor will it erase the millions of injustices faced by Black Americans not recorded on cellphone video, or the Black community's dread during encounters with police. Proof of that came in police shootings and harassment of Black Americans as the trial went on, in situations that might not have ended so tragically for Whites.