The trial and conviction of former Minneapolis Officer Derek Chauvin on all three of the charges he faced have made more Americans critically aware of the racism deeply embedded in our nation’s criminal legal system.
The tragic murder of George Floyd is far from isolated. Floyd’s life and the lives of so many other Black Americans unfairly and unnaturally cut short at the hands of law enforcement must be memorialized with action.
We must establish lasting systemic change, expose injustice, and honor the dignity of every member of our society.
In this great racial reckoning, that means ending the bigotry rooted in American institutions and beginning to heal the pain of families across the country. “They are,” Robert F. Kennedy said of victims of institutional violence and brutality, “most important of all, human beings whom other human beings loved and needed.”
George Floyd’s life was not simply about the violence that ended it. It is our hope the Floyd family will begin to find peace in the months ahead as more minds and hearts are changed by this tragedy.