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 June 2, 2020

As an organization that has worked for all of its history to stop
violence, we mourn the tragic, brutal, indefensible murder of George
Floyd. Structural racism and police brutality pervade our culture; the
pain these abuses cause, and the ways they diminish us as a country
are incalculable.

The devaluation of Black lives and the disparate treatment of
minorities - in our justice, healthcare, education, economic and
other systems - are intolerable, and have gone on for much too
long. We cannot continue to criminalize race and poverty or to
tolerate violence of any kind.

George Floyd, of course, is only the latest Black life lost to police
brutality. Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Philando Castile, Sandra
Bland, Eric Garner are among the many whose names are familiar to us
for the worst possible reason - because they were killed by
police. There are so many more whose names are carved on tombstones,
and across the hearts of those who loved them, yet, whose deaths went
unrecorded in every sense -- and did not create headlines, inspire
public rage or calls for justice.

There must not be one more.

Nor can we allow the health disparities that take such a
disproportionate toll on the Black community, especially now as we
grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic, to continue. We need to remake our
justice system, our health care system, our education system, and our
economic system in ways that are equitable, responsive and fair.

This rebuilding demands deep changes in our culture as well, and more
and better services to help children recover from the trauma of the
violence and bias that are all around them.

For many years, Futures Without Violence has worked to change multiple
systems. We know that progress does not come easily, but that it is
possible. We need accountability for police officers, prosecutors and
judges and we need to root out all those who are biased or abusive.
The days when police accountability can be sporadic or lacking
altogether are over.

The terrible pain we feel right now is creating an unprecedented,
broad-based wave of activism, especially among our young people of
color. And activism leads to change. The responsibility belongs to
each one of us to be sure that change is swift, meaningful and
lasting. As a country, we cannot allow racism, injustice and violence
to continue. As people of conscience, we each have a duty to resist
and to act. The costs of silence and inaction are a burden we can no
longer bear.

 
















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