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Dear&nbsp;John,
Today, Minneapolis jurors declared their&nbsp;truth:&nbsp;that&nbsp;former police officer&nbsp;Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd. We believe that it is&nbsp;crucial&nbsp;to&nbsp;hold&nbsp;to account&nbsp;both&nbsp;the individuals&nbsp;who&nbsp;commit&nbsp;police&nbsp;violence&nbsp;against&nbsp;people of color and the systems&nbsp;that perpetuate the use of violence as strategy.&nbsp;The job of this jury is&nbsp;done. But&nbsp;the job of those who seek justice is&nbsp;not.&nbsp;Systemic change is necessary&nbsp;for&nbsp;communities&nbsp;of color to live in&nbsp;safety&nbsp;and&nbsp;thrive.&nbsp;
The&nbsp;conviction&nbsp;of Derek Chauvin&nbsp;illustrates&nbsp;that justice was served in this case. And it also is a stark reminder that we must&nbsp;go&nbsp;
beyond policing<[link removed]>&nbsp;and ensure&nbsp;that&nbsp;all&nbsp;our&nbsp;communities&nbsp;are&nbsp;safe from violence by the state.&nbsp;All&nbsp;communities must live free from fear of police, the very people who are paid to protect and serve.&nbsp;&nbsp;
We&nbsp;stand in solidarity with the&nbsp;family&nbsp;members&nbsp;of George Floyd,&nbsp;Eric Garner,&nbsp;Breonna Taylor, Daunte Wright, Philando Castile, Sandra Bland,&nbsp;and&nbsp;so many&nbsp;others who&nbsp;could not&nbsp;live&nbsp;in&nbsp;safety&nbsp;because&nbsp;of the&nbsp;police.&nbsp;We must put an end to any&nbsp;illusion of&nbsp;safety&nbsp;historically&nbsp;rooted&nbsp;in racist&nbsp;and elitist&nbsp;stereotypes&nbsp;that&nbsp;continue&nbsp;to&nbsp;build up armed,&nbsp;militant,&nbsp;and unaccountable&nbsp;police forces in our communities.&nbsp;Now&nbsp;marks&nbsp;a clear moment in&nbsp;time to&nbsp;develop&nbsp;new&nbsp;practices and policies that&nbsp;center the importance and values of&nbsp;
community health, safety,&nbsp;and&nbsp;well-being<[link removed]>&nbsp;for&nbsp;people&nbsp;of color, and all of us.&nbsp;No one is safe until everyone is safe.&nbsp;
Visionary&nbsp;systemic change to keep our communities&nbsp;truly&nbsp;safe&nbsp;must be sought, especially during this moment.&nbsp;Tragically, this verdict won&rsquo;t solve the crises of&nbsp;violence that are inherent to our&nbsp;current policing&nbsp;system.&nbsp;This&nbsp;moment cries out for going beyond police reform, which research shows has not prevented continued police violence perpetrated against&nbsp;Black and brown bodies.&nbsp;Such reforms, while a step forward, are&nbsp;simply&nbsp;not enough.&nbsp;Communities&nbsp;across the country are&nbsp;constructing&nbsp;exciting&nbsp;programs that support community safety and wellbeing that&nbsp;go beyond policing.&nbsp;
Our hearts today are with the family of George Floyd, with the Minneapolis community,&nbsp;and with the millions who grieve and who fear. May we all fight for the systemic change we need and the brighter and safer future we all&nbsp;deserve.
Below, we have included Value, Problem, Solution, Action guidance to help you respond to today's trial and address the work that needs to be done ahead.&nbsp;
Driven toward justice,
Ellen Buchman & The Opportunity Agenda Team
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VPSA Guidance for Responding to the Derek Chauvin Verdict:
Value:&nbsp;We all want to feel truly safe,&nbsp;particularly in our communities and in our homes. Real&nbsp;community safety means that people can live and take care of&nbsp;loved ones without the fear of&nbsp;anyone, especially the police, putting&nbsp;their lives&nbsp;or health at risk.&nbsp;&nbsp;
Problem:&nbsp;For far too long, the safety of communities&nbsp;&ndash; BIPOC communities,&nbsp;LGBTQ&nbsp;communities, and people experiencing poverty or mental health issues in particular&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;has&nbsp;been put at risk because of&nbsp;the false vision&nbsp;of police&nbsp;as&nbsp;the only enforcers of public safety.&nbsp;It&rsquo;s a&nbsp;vision&nbsp;that&nbsp;persists&nbsp;despite seeing time and time again how the&nbsp;over-policing of communities of color&nbsp;has&nbsp;threatened their very safety, and existence.&nbsp;
Solution:&nbsp;People&nbsp;have come together to develop alternatives to&nbsp;policing&nbsp;that center the needs of their&nbsp;communities&nbsp;while reducing the risk of police violence.&nbsp;Real safety means that people have access to the economic,&nbsp;educational, and public health&nbsp;supports that we know&nbsp;prevent violence and&nbsp;create thriving communities. Resources directed toward those things make us safe, not bloated police departments with access to military-grade gear, or the assumption that&nbsp;pouring more resources into training is the answer.&nbsp;We need to support systems that provide alternatives to the police&nbsp;so that communities can be involved in maintaining their safety through these proven tactics.&nbsp;
Action:&nbsp;Build an affirmative vision of&nbsp;true safety. Uplift&nbsp;what a world without police looks like.&nbsp;Show how community&nbsp;support looks when communities thrive.&nbsp;Illustrate&nbsp;local examples of how the police presence in your community has been reduced and how your community has stepped up to&nbsp;address&nbsp;broader&nbsp;needs while also advancing true safety.&nbsp;

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