Statement on the Murder of George Floyd
Like so many of us, I am disgusted and hurt by the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis Police. His family and communities will no longer benefit from his laugh or his words. This tragedy highlights that our system of policing is a method of state violence against black communities, Indigenous communities, communities of color, disabled communities, homeless communities, and low-wealth communities.
Our systems are not broken; they do not work for all of us because they were not designed for all of us. With every death it becomes clearer that we must fundamentally reexamine and redesign how our systems function—and who benefits. Modern policing in this country began centuries ago for the purpose of recapturing runaway slaves and maintaining social order among slaves. So while society has evolved in many ways, our laws have not evolved at a meaningful enough rate.
Embedded in each law is a promise about who matters and who does not, who is deserving of our care and who is not. Embedded in each law is a lasting memory of the original authors who saw many of us as lesser, other, or subhuman. These laws are inherently unjust and discriminatory because they were not written with all of us in mind.
Recent attempts to make local policing less harmful through transparency have only led to a clearer picture of how destructive police can be in certain Minneapolis communities. Body cameras, training, and disciplinary measures do not mitigate or prevent the harm caused by needless death, so we must collectively demand something different from our systems.
We must work directly with community to reimagine a system based on the safety and betterment of all in our communities. We must have a serious conversation about recreating our approaches to safety and justice, and it must be rooted in the lived experiences of those most harmed by the current system. Only holistic, bottom-up efforts accountable to the betterment of all people will result in truly safe communities.