Dear John,

For the past ten days, millions of people across our country, and all over the world, have taken to the streets to protest the unjust murder of Black Americans like George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and so many more Black Americans at the hands of police.

This weekend, I joined community members back home to march, take a knee, and say unequivocally: Black Lives Matter.

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Since this movement to demand justice for police brutality against Black Americans began, I have taken a lot of time to listen and reflect. That’s the first job of any representative.

The violence experienced every day by Black Americans should not be a revelation . But it has been brought home in a visceral and undeniable fashion through images from cell phones and body cameras, and that have made names like Eric Garner and George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery and Rekia Boyd and Breonna Taylor household names, not because of how they lived, but because of how they were murdered.

We must not turn away. We must acknowledge our own implicit biases, our own privilege, and our own responsibility. We must join together, not stand apart or stay silent. And we must use our voices to lift up, rather than divide.

Before I was elected to the U.S. House, I spent almost six years serving as a federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, appearing on behalf of the United States. While I helped prosecute crooked cops and other corrupt public officials, I always believed most law enforcement to be good, well-intentioned, and courageous people. I still do.

But I was also never naive enough to think that we had ever successfully eradicated racism in the criminal justice system or our society at large. In fact, we need much more than incremental change — we need to transform a broken system of racial injustice. That’s why I’m proud to be an original cosponsor of a package of bills authored by the Congressional Black Caucus to combat systemic racism in our justice system. Bills that require accountability in our police departments, action against bias in the system, outlaw choke and carotid holds, do away with qualified immunity and so much more.

Yet we have so far left to travel.

Police brutality and racism against Black Americans is everywhere: from small towns to big cities, in the dark of night to the light of day. Whether driving a car, jogging down the street, bird-watching in a park, taking the subway, shopping at a store, attending church, sitting at home, sleeping in bed – Black people, predominantly Black men, have been harmed by racism and in too many cases killed doing these very simple things that the rest of us take for granted.

That’s the thing about the virus of racism: we can never fully understand what it’s like to walk in another’s shoes. As a father, I’ve never had to talk to my kids about how to avoid being profiled, arrested, or God forbid killed by police. The fact that Black mothers and fathers and grandparents have to have that conversation with their children and grandchildren every single day in this country is appalling. This has got to change.

We cannot turn away and be silent. All of us must face this issue head-on, listen, and lift up each other.

Coming together and peacefully protesting these past weekends has been a first step. But we can’t let it end here.

Together, let’s continue to demand justice. For reforming and reshaping our government. For changes to keep Black Americans safe and healthy, with an equal opportunity to pursue life, liberty and happiness.

This week, I asked you to consider contributing to Black organizations on the frontlines of the struggle. I know this is a difficult time to ask, in the midst of a pandemic and economic crisis. But you dug deep and have given an astonishing $100,000 to four organizations that are dedicated to ending systemic racism and to the principle that Black Lives Matter. I can’t thank you enough for stepping up to support justice in such a generous way!

Walking side by side with a diverse array of people and calling for peace, justice, and equality – and witnessing millions of others around the country do the same – has only strengthened my belief in America and its ideals.

Let’s keep up this work together.

Adam

P.S. We’ve already raised $100,000 for four organizations on the front lines of justice – Black Lives Matter Global Network, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Campaign Zero, and the Bail Project.

If you are in a position to donate and you would like to help these organizations create sustainable change, and keep up their fight for Black Lives Matter and racial justice, consider splitting a donation to them: [[link removed]]

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