The Verdict: Accountability and Rededication
Dear Friend,
The level of trauma and anxiety since George Floyd was murdered by Derek Chauvin last summer has been deep and broad and none deeper than for Mr. Floyd’s family and the Black Community. Yesterday with a guilty verdict on all 3 counts, while there is some relief that we are finally witnessing accountability in action, this is not a time to sit back in satisfaction that “justice has been served.” We have a long way to go, and yet might we dare dream that this could be a turning point? A police officer being held accountable for murder and police brutality is a rare event while the killing of black and brown people is not rare enough and all too common and prevalent. That is the narrative that must change. This is a time to rededicate to the struggle for racial justice and recommit to the cessation of police violence and state violence. Until then, there can be little satisfaction as too many lives have been lost. I cannot help thinking about the families who lost their loved ones, especially the mothers who have lost their children. The Mothers of the Movement, mothers of black children killed by police, show up for each other and for justice. And they remind us all what loss looks and feels like. Gwen Carr, the mother of Eric Garner, killed in NYC in 2014 by a police chokehold while pleading “I can’t breathe,” tells us “we must go further. The mothers and the families know we must go further.” George Floyd cried out for his deceased mother, crying over and over again “I can’t breathe.”
The time is now. We must go all the way.
Patti Giggans
Executive Director/CEO
Peace Over Violence
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CONTACT
Metro Headquarters
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Los Angeles, CA 90017
213.955.9090 office
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West San Gabriel Valley Center
892 N Fair Oaks Ave, Suite D
Pasadena, CA 91103
626.584.6191 office
626.584.6193 fax
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