We Deserve to Be Safe

While the verdict in the Derek Chauvin case is a win for police accountability and may help heal a grieving community, the systems that allowed George to be murdered remain intact.

George Floyd should not have died under an officer’s knee, he should still be alive today. So should Daunte Wright, Philando Castile, Breonna Taylor, and countless other Black people killed by police.

True justice for George Floyd means creating a world where police do not have the opportunity to use violence to target Black people.

We must ensure police are not the only resort for addressing harm. We must remove police from low-level enforcement of offenses that shouldn’t be criminalized. We must divert funding from policing and towards community-based services.

What we got in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder at the hands of Derek Chauvin wasn’t justice. What we got was accountability. It may feel like justice, but it’s not. There are too many police officers who have not been held accountable.

If we made police accountable, what’s the worst that could happen? There is no evidence that regulating guns, eliminating income inequality, providing a safety net for the health, wealth, and safety of American citizens would cause any kind of long-term damage.

The Oakland-based Ella Baker Center for Human Rights said in a statement that “a guilty verdict on its own will not deliver the kind of justice that will truly keep our communities safe.”

“Since the Chauvin trial began on March 29, cops have killed an average of three people each day, and more than half of the victims are Black and Latinx,” the group said. “Protestors marching in the wake of the deaths of Daunte Wright and Adam Toledo were met with police wielding assault rifles, tear gas, and military-grade protective gear.”

“The Chauvin trial has not stopped the now-familiar cycle of police committing harm, then responding to demands for justice with more violence,” it added. “The conviction of Derek Chauvin will not prevent police violence.”

Rashad Robinson, president of the advocacy group Color of Change, said, “Our fight for racial justice continues as we fight to fundamentally alter a system that continues to threaten, harm, and kill Black people. So we use this moment to push for real change because the fight for accountability and justice in America is far from over. The Chauvin trial may be over, but what comes next will be the consequential moment in our history. We need to do more than raise our voices; we must demand action now.”