“That it was even a question that a murder, which took place on video for the world to see, would result in anything but a guilty verdict says all there is to say about how little trust there is in our institutions to hold the powerful to account.”
-Arthur G. Steinberg, President, AFT Pennsylvania
 TAUP is relieved to hear of the guilty verdicts and hope that this brings some level of satisfaction to the family of George Floyd and the many who labor for racial justice and against police brutality.
Yet even as this verdict was announced, another life was lost. Sixteen-year-old Ma’khia Bryant was shot and killed by a police officer in Ohio.
More than 5,000 Americans have been shot and killed by a law enforcement officer since 2015, according to a Washington Post database of police killings.
The rate at which Black Americans are killed by police is more than twice as high as the rate for White Americans.
Reform is not enough. Policing in this nation must be transformed, and we cannot wait to start that transformation. We need resources such as mental and medical care, jobs, transportation, food, and housing. We need a system that actually serves rather than harms our communities.
We must continue the struggle to rethink community safety in ways that center humanity and empathy rather than punishment and violence, and hence, create a system that will actually make our communities safer.
Please join us as we work with the labor movement, community organizations, and elected leaders to make this vision a reality.
Black Lives Matter. |
TAUP