Red's Wrap
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What Derek Chauvin’s Mother Might Have Said
I wanted Derek Chauvin’s mother, Carolyn Pawlenty, to turn around, look straight at George Floyd’s family, and say she was sorry about what happened. But she didn’t do that.
She showed up on the day her son was to be sentenced for the murder of George Floyd and told the court how sad it was that her son would be in prison for a long time, so long that she might not even be around when he was released. She bemoaned the pending reality, “when you sentence him, you are sentencing me, too.” She called her son a good man, an honorable man, complained that he was being labeled a racist, and, in doing all this, gave a master class in turning a blind eye to the suffering of others. And it occurred to me in that moment, that her son may have been her earliest student.
She read her remarks while Chauvin, dressed in the palest gray suit and paler gray tie, sat perfectly still. Only his eyes moved, darting from side to side as if tracking a laser light operated by someone in the back row. His mother’s presence seemed to make him nervous, as if, perhaps, he was embarrassed by her or embarrassed that she was all he had by way of supporters or character witnesses. Or maybe he was embarrassed by what she said, her self-pity and her faint praise.
I suppose it is uncharitable to pick apart the remarks of a woman whose son killed someone by suffocating him for nine and a half minutes. Shame would have kept many mothers miles away from the courthouse. That she showed up, however self-centered and blind, to speak on her son’s behalf took courage. I respect that, but I feel no sympathy, no warmth, nothing.
I think Carolyn Pawlenty had a chance, maybe her last chance, to be a role model for her son. She only had to say to the Floyd family “I am so sorry.” Unlikely, but that could have opened the door for Chauvin to say the same four words. Instead, the two of them stuck to their fiction of innocence, despite the video and the testimony of dozens of witnesses. She ignored Floyd’s grieving family by focusing only on herself and her son with the darting eyes. She missed the chance to be Derek Chauvin’s mother, his role model, his leader. She missed the most monumental teaching moment any mother could encounter.
Four words. That’s all it would have taken.
17 Comments on “What Derek Chauvin’s Mother Might Have Said”
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Well if she had empathy she might have produced a son with empathy which might have produced a cop who couldn’t kill a man in cold blood. The apple didn’t fall too far from the tree it appears from her words.
Wow, a powerful post, Jan. It really perplexes me as to how someone can be so self-centered. To say that she is also being sentenced without observing that the Floyd family was also sentenced when their son was tried and executed by her son without a trial… well she is a part of the problem. Tell me again why involuntary sterilization isn’t right for justice. 🙂
You are a pretty tough cookie, my friend. I agree with (nearly) everything you said. Self-centered is exactly the term for it. Absolutely.
Sometimes these brain farts just come out when I am overwhelmed with too much injustice – but my Mama taught me that two wrongs don’t make a right. I first had thoughts of birth control in the water system when I worked at a juvenile diversion program and three 13 year old friends were referred to us and their only goal for the summer was to get pregnant. Back to Pawlenty and your comment that Chauvins was her first student, one of the most interesting opinion pieces in the American Psychologist (?} Journal was about requiring prospective parents to apply for a parenting license like we have to apply for a driver’s license. There were some problems that would need to be solved but was interesting to think about.
A point that occurs to me – IF she feels her son was doing his job and nothing wrong, that would explain a great deal, at least to this observer.
Maybe. But to me, it wouldn’t explain her profound lack of generosity to the other family. She could believe her son did everything just right but still express regret and sorrow for the other family’s tremendous loss.
Your ability to hit the nail on the head every time you write is nothing short of genius, It is so meaningfully written. Thank you Jan. XxX
Thank you Tiger Eyes. I appreciate that.
Honestly Jan, I felt exactly the same listening to her bleat on about what a good guy her son is… he clearly murdered someone, slowly and deliberately with no compassion and no remorse, and the fact that she can’t see that as a deservedly punishable act is probably at the root of why he can’t see it either… 🙁
You are likely right on that.
The tragedy continues
It really does.
I felt the same way. My stomach hurt the entire time she was speaking.
It was so baffling to me – how she couldn’t express sadness for the Floyd family even as she was immersed in her own. It wouldn’t have changed anything in the big scheme of things but it would have meant something to the Floyds and, I think, to Derek Chauvin himself.
She is the tree from which Chauvin sprang. So, maybe we shouldn’t be surprised by her apparent lack of empathy.
Very well said.
Thank you