A firework explodes by a police line as demonstrators gather to protest the death of George Floyd on Saturday near the White House in Washington.

Alex Brandon/AP

hide caption

toggle caption

Alex Brandon/AP

A firework explodes by a police line as demonstrators gather to protest the death of George Floyd on Saturday near the White House in Washington.

Alex Brandon/AP

Protests have erupted across the nation in response to the death of George Floyd, and some of the demonstrations have turned violent, leading political leaders and activists to debate over who is responsible.

But former NAACP President and CEO Cornell William Brooks, who is now a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School where he runs a civil rights clinic, told All Things Considered that Derek Chauvin — the police officer who knelt on Floyd's neck — should be blamed for the violent protests, too.

"But be clear: There would be no protests, there would be no demonstrations, had Derek Chauvin not killed George Floyd.