STATEMENT
TakeAction Statement on Justice for George Floyd
The murder of George Floyd is devastating and justice is what we are focused on. At its core, the struggle, anger and sadness engulfing Minneapolis, our state and in fact our entire country is about love for each other. We are human beings, bound together and wired to care for each other.
The last two nights in Minneapolis have been demonstrations of our pain and a cry for justice. It is an old pain borne of the historic, violent, publicly funded oppression of Black people. And, of brown, Native and poor people too. It’s pain from knowing the police union President, Bob Kroll, is a white supremacist and his members elect him time and again. It’s pain from a political system designed to make the police utterly unaccountable for their violence.
The Minneapolis Police Department chose to intentionally provoke that pain with tear gas and rubber bullets. They wounded our bodies and stood by observing the havoc they wreaked to distract from one very simple truth: George Floyd should be alive today and prosecuting officers for his murder is the beginning, not end of justice.
The entire world is watching and we have a choice.
We can either continue down a path of more pain, death, and trauma under the current system or we can choose something different.
Change won’t happen overnight, but it starts with divesting our public dollars from this traumatizing, unaccountable police system and investing in communities and alternative systems of first responders. This is the most practical, commonsense way forward.
Make no mistake, we are not starting from scratch. Black-led organizations in Minneapolis have been working on solutions for YEARS including Reclaim the Block, Black Visions, & MPD150. It is long past time to listen and choose this better path.
We keep struggling, protesting, and organizing because we know a better world is possible. We know it in our hearts and bones; we see it in our dreams.
From the ashes, we will rise. #LetUsBreathe #JusticeforGeorgeFloyd
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TakeAction Minnesota is a statewide, independent, multiracial people’s organization working to advance democracy and equity through organizing, political action, and campaigns. Offices are located in St. Paul, St. Cloud, and Duluth.
