Good morning. It is Sunday, March 28th. I'm Ali Valsi, live in Minneapolis for our special 8 minutes and 48th, 46 seconds.

That is infamously the amount of time that former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin is alleged to have knelt on George Floyd's neck until Floyd died.

I'm outside the Hennepin County Courthouse where just in about 24 hours, Chauvin's trial is set to begin.

The trial is expected to take several weeks.

It'll be televised and will be perhaps the most closely watched trial

in modern history in the United States. I'll be joined shortly by the co-lead Council for the family

of George Floyd and later by the city official who led the charge to defund Minneapolis police

in the wake of the George Floyd killing. As you know, I spent a good amount of time in Minneapolis

in the immediate aftermath of the Floyd killing, helping you know, I spent a good about a time in Minneapolis in the immediate

aftermath of the Floyd killing, helping to document the protest movement, and the movement

that was ignited by it. Well, I'm back today for the same reason to bear witness to what this city

and its citizens are going through in this critical moment. And on this trip, I spoke with black

people from this community

about what they expect from the trial while it's unfolding and in the aftermath, both inside

and outside the courtroom, as well as the state of present-day Minneapolis, what's changed

for the better and for the worse and what still needs work. You'll hear from those citizens

later in the show, but throughout the hour,

we will examine both the prosecution and the defense in this case, in addition to the tremendous stakes that this trial represents, not just for Derek Chauvin, but for racial justice, policing,

and civil rights in this country, because more than anything, the trial of Derek Chauvin and

the death of George Floyd will end up being far more than the trial of one police officer and the death of one black man.

This is a test of the system.

Black people have for years pointed out that killings by police are merely contemporary lynchings, extrajudicial killings, meet it out without legal deliberation

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