Friends,

It was sickening to watch George Floyd be killed on video while helplessly begging for air — to barely be able to get out the words, “I can’t breathe,” as he struggled under the weight of the police officer who refused to take his knees off his neck and back.

The four Minneapolis police officers involved in George Floyd’s murder have been terminated, but we still need justice. That’s why I’m calling for immediate investigations into this incident at the local, state, and federal levels.

We will not see true justice for George Floyd, or Eric Garner, Sandra Bland, Freddie Gray, Philando Castile, Alton Sterling, Walter Scott, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, and the far too many more Black Americans who’ve died at the hands of police brutality until we dismantle the systemic racism that continues to allow disgusting acts of violence like this to happen.

Black lives matter isn’t just a chant, friends — it’s a call for justice. It’s a call for our humanity to be recognized.

As we raise our voices to hold the perpetrators of this brutality fully accountable, we must hold on to the hope that one day we will see an end to this hatred that destroys too many lives and livelihoods. It is from that hope that the healing and change our country so desperately needs will be born.

In solidarity,

Ilhan Omar