Biden: 'Systemic racism' in US a 'stain on nation's soul'

US President Joe Biden has called systemic racism a "stain on our nation's soul" in a televised address to the nation after a white former police officer was convicted of murdering a Black man during an arrest.

Biden spoke out on Tuesday after a jury in the Midwestern city of Minneapolis found Derek Chauvin guilty of intentionally suffocating handcuffed George Floyd as he lay defenseless, with the officer's knee pressing on his neck for more than nine minutes.

"It was a murder in the full light of day, and it ripped the blinders off for the whole world to see," Biden said in nationally televised remarks. "Systemic racism is a stain on the nation's soul."

"Nothing can ever bring their brother and father back," he said of the Floyd family, "but this can be a giant step forward in the march toward justice in America."

READ MORE: Derek Chauvin is convicted in George Floyd's murder

The president called for "confronting head on systemic racism and the racial disparities that exist in policing and our criminal justice system" –– but pleaded for protesters to steer clear of violence.

"There are those who will seek to exploit the raw emotions in the moment –– agitators and extremists who have no interest in social justice," he warned. 

"We can't let them succeed."

Biden also praised the "brave young woman" who recorded Chauvin kneeling on Floyd's neck, and cited the police officers who testified for the prosecution in the case "instead of closing ranks."

"For so many," Biden said, "it feels like it took all of that for the judicial system to deliver basic accountability."

Jury finds Chauvin guilty 

A jury deliberated less than 11 hours before finding the 45-year-old Chauvin guilty of all three charges against him –– second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter.

The unanimous verdict came after a racially charged three week trial that was seen as a pivotal test of police accountability in the United States.

READ MORE: 'Painfully earned justice': Reaction to George Floyd murder verdict

Harris: 'We still have to reform the system'

Appearing alongside Biden, Kamala Harris, America's first Black vice president, spoke first to articulate the "relief" the nation was feeling over justice being served but acknowledged that the result couldn't "take away the pain" of Floyd's murder.

"A measure of justice is not the same as equal justice. This verdict brings us a step closer. We still have work to do. We still have to reform the system," she said.

She vowed to work with Biden to urge the Senate to pass "long overdue" legislation on police accountability, saying Black men had been treated as "less than humans" throughout US history. 

"Here is the truth about racial injustice: It is not just a Black America problem or a 'people of color' problem. It is a problem for every American," she said.