John,
Last night, the Derek Chauvin verdict was announced: guilty on all counts. These verdicts are correct — but the system is still racist and wrong.
The truth is, John, we've known Chauvin was guilty since the second we saw him murder George Floyd on film. We also know of the racism inherent in our carceral and policing systems. This guilty verdict doesn't change that racism, or the work ahead needed to transform those systems to serve us.
Police brutality and violence in our country is unrelenting. Just last night, as we were beginning to process the verdict, Ma'Khia Bryant — a 16-year-old Black girl — was killed by a police officer in Columbus, Ohio. She called the police for help, and they killed her. My heart goes out to her family and community.
We must challenge our current reality and reimagine public safety and public health. We need social services and resources that heal our communities, not policing that harms and occupies our neighborhoods. We must pass legislation that meets the moment — legislation like the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which I strongly urge my colleagues in the U.S. Senate to pass.
Above all, John: We need justice. For Ma'Khia Bryant, Daunte Wright, Adam Toledo, Tamir Rice, Breonna Taylor, and everyone else we've lost. And so we must continue to fight, organize, and dismantle our current systems — until justice is real.
Peace and love,
Jamaal Bowman
