George Floyd was not a martyr; he did not die for the greater good; his life was taken from him. Just like so many other people of colour.

What should have been a moment of relief, a moment for us to take a breath, was a moment where we couldn't. We all saw the video footage. We all saw an innocent man being murdered, and yet, we did not know if the correct verdict was going to be reached. This alone displays the iota of trust we have in the criminal justice system. Rest assured, if the roles were reversed and if George Floyd was white and Derek Chauvin was black, there would have been nothing anxious to wait about. That doesn't seem like justice to me.

We cannot afford to now overlook the fact that this verdict remains an out layer. We cannot forget that getting to the point we are at now has been an exhaustive process. It has taken a worldwide outcry and video recorded evidence to get us here. If not for all our efforts, the result of this trial would have been very different. As history has told us time and time again, if black people do not make their voices heard, justice will not be served.

READ MORE: President Biden hails 'giant step forward in the march toward justice in America' after Chauvin conviction

So, yes, pause, take a sigh of relief, celebrate this rare occasion. But it stands to remain a RARE occasion. Derek Chauvin will go down as only the eighth officer found guilty since 2005. That is not justice.

Yet, most disheartening of all is that at a time of what was meant to be a small victory for people of colour worldwide. We were forced to mourn the loss of yet another innocent soul. As the guilty verdict was announced, Ma'Khia Bryant, a 16-year-old girl, was shot dead by police in Ohio. Derek Chauvin was not just one 'bad apple'; the whole system is rotten.  Although the jury reached the correct verdict, on this rare occasion, we cannot allow this to replace the much-needed change.

Yet, not all hope is lost. This verdict can be the catalyst we need for much-needed change not only in America but in Scotland. Whether we will use it as such is a different story. We all ought to be wary of people switching the narrative to "you see the right verdict has been reached, you can trust the system". Yet, in reality, if the system were so good, we would not have had to rely on a 17-year-old girl filming the incident to have had the police being held accountable. If the system were so good, the best verdict would have been George Floyd alive.

READ MORE: 'Painfully earned justice': Police officer found guilty of murdering George Floyd

On this occasion, the harsh reality is that what happened in America is something that, to date, Scotland has not been able to replicate. Because right here in Scotland, Sheku Bayoh was killed in police custody. Six years on, we have failed to hold anybody accountable. In England, the recent race report published denied allegations of institutionalised racism. We live in a country where we still deny racism. So, it seems to me we need to be learning from America.

In my opinion, education remains one of our panaceas to racism because racism thrives on ignorance. The only way to fight ignorance is through education. What children cannot learn at home must be taught in the classroom. If people cannot even begin to understand the context of racism, we are fighting in a losing battle because how do you even begin to fight what you do not know.