John --

Guilty.

A police officer guilty of murdering George Floyd.

A country guilty of allowing police violence, with accountability so rare we can barely believe it.

Today’s verdict in the murder trial of George Floyd’s killer is a small step toward accountability.

But justice remains so very far away.

My heart goes out to George Floyd’s family, and to all the family members who have lost loved ones to police violence.

Justice would be George Floyd together with his family tonight. Absent that, justice requires a full transformation of our public safety infrastructure.

That’s what millions of people demanded when they took to the streets last year to insist that #BlackLivesMatter.

And that’s the work that Communities United for Police Reform [[link removed]] , Justice Committee [[link removed]] , the Brooklyn Movement Center [[link removed]] organize for every day.

I’m heading out to Barclays Center tonight to support that movement -- and to urge the NYPD to make room for nonviolent protest, to de-escalate, to ground the helicopters that feel so much more like intimidation than like safety.

And I’m planning to join them tomorrow to call for justice for Kawaski Trawick, killed while cooking in his kitchen by NYPD officers who were cleared of wrongdoing.

Last year, New Yorkers demanded major cuts to the NYPD budget -- at least $1 billion -- to invest in communities rather than policing. But the Mayor and the City Council failed to deliver.

I voted against last year’s budget because it failed to set us on a course to safety and justice for all of NYC’s communities. And I’ll vote against this year’s budget if it doesn’t.

I know we can achieve better public safety, for all communities, with less policing -- and with more of the resources, investment, compassion, and care that we all need to thrive.

Brad

Lander for NYC
456 5th Avenue, Third Floor, Suite 2
Brooklyn, NY 11215
United States
[email protected]

[link removed] [[link removed]] [link removed] [[link removed]] [link removed] [[link removed]]

Paid for by Lander for NYCunsubscribe: [link removed]
Was this forwarded to you? Sign up here [[link removed]] .