Opening arguments in the trial of Derek Chauvin opened on Monday as the prosecution presented opening arguments and brought in witnesses to make the case that the police officer murdered George Floyd. The 12 jurors who will decide whether or not to hold Chauvin accountable were seated at the start of the trial and shown the entire video of Floyd’s last moments of life as Officer Chauvin held him face down on the street with his body weight pressing down on his knee as it wedged over Floyd’s neck. Floyd said “I can’t breathe” 27 times before dying. Jena Scurry, a witness brought by the prosecution, explained how she, as a 9-11 dispatcher, watched police officers on a surveillance camera and became increasingly concerned. The Washington Post expressed the significance of the case saying, “The jurors are charged with deciding one of the highest-profile cases in recent memory, set to begin Monday in a downtown courtroom a few miles from where Floyd was filmed facedown on a Minneapolis street. Their decision will reverberate across the country, setting off renewed debates about race, policing and accountability.” The night before the trial, Floyd’s family members and others held a vigil at a church in Minneapolis at which activist Al Sharpton and attorney Benjamin Crump spoke.

In other news thousands of people marched in cities across the U.S. over the weekend for “Stop Asian Hate” rallies. In Los Angeles, home to a very significant Asian American population, people gathered in Koreatown and marched down Olympic Boulevard chanting and drumming. The rallies drew attention to the recent mass shootings in Atlanta, Georgia where a white gunman is suspected of killing 6 Asian women and two others at three different spas. 

In other news, President Joe Biden plans to roll out two infrastructure spending bills this week with the first one focusing on green energy and the second one on child care and healthcare. Senator Bernie Sanders, chair of the powerful Budget Committee, plans to push through his healthcare agenda through the second bill. Politico reports that Sanders is, “urging Democrats to force Medicare to enter into negotiations with drug companies and use that revenue to pay for a huge expansion” of Medicare that involves lowering the eligibility age from 65 to 55 and expanding it to include dental and vision coverage. Sanders wrote an op-ed in The Guardian on Monday called, “The rich-poor gap in America is obscene. So let’s fix it.” In it, he explained the importance of raising the minimum wage, making it easier for workers to join unions, and enacting fairer taxation among other things. 

President Biden will give an address at the White House on Monday updating his adminis...