Friend, this Tuesday, on the same day Derek Chauvin was convicted for murdering George Floyd, 16-year-old Ma'Khia Bryant was killed by the Columbus police after officers reportedly arrived at her home in response to a disturbance call that she herself had made.

Ma'Khia had her entire life ahead of her. A system that kills children with impunity cannot be reformed. As I said below, real justice will only be achieved in our country when no more Black lives are harmed or taken by our racist policing institutions. We can start by transforming public safety in America – by replacing police officers in our communities with community-based, civilian-led solutions instead. Please take action on this issue now.

Take care,

Paige Fernandez
Pronouns: She, her, hers
Policing Policy Advocate, ACLU

Friend –

A jury has found former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin guilty on all charges in the murder of George Floyd.

While this verdict is a small gain for police accountability and may help provide some semblance of justice to a grieving community, the systems that allowed a police officer to take Mr. Floyd's life remain fully intact. Because of those racist systems, George Floyd will never make his way home to play games with his daughter, Gianna. He'll never go on walks through the park with his beloved fiancée, Courteney, or play basketball with his brother, Philonise.

That is why we cannot stop here. Mr. Floyd's murder at the hands of Minneapolis police is evidence of the disparate treatment, over-policing, abuse of power, and excessive force that communities of color too often experience from law enforcement. And if we are ever to end this violence, we must re-examine approaches to public safety entirely – and work actively to reduce the role, scale, power, and funding of the police.

That includes pushing for alternatives to having police officers as the first, last, and only resort to keeping our communities safe. Broken-windows style policing that targets Black communities over low-level offenses resulted in Mr. Floyd's death – and in the majority of police killings in America. You can take action on this issue right now by urging the Biden administration to support and issue guidance on common-sense, community-based, and civilian-led solutions nationwide.

Of course, this alone is not the only measure we must achieve to secure safety in our communities. The work ahead – work which Black activists, organizers, and groups have been leading for decades – will and must continue far past this moment.

Because what is for certain, ACLU Supporter, is that Mr. Floyd should not have died under an officer's knee – he should still be alive today. So should Daunte Wright, Philando Castile, Breonna Taylor, and countless other Black people killed by police.

Honoring their lives and the countless other Black lives violently taken at the hands of police means none of us can allow this verdict to make us complacent.

We must renew our conviction to create a world where police do not have the opportunity to use violence and harassment against Black people – as they have since their inception as slave patrols. We must fight for a world where we massively divest from police as an institution, including implementing proven alternatives to police in low-level enforcement – and reinvest in the communities that desperately want more for the legacies of their fallen.

Together, we can make that world a reality – if we keep pushing for it. We'll be in touch soon on this critical work and in the meantime, please take care.

Toward justice,

Paige Fernandez
Pronouns: She, her, hers
Policing Policy Advocate, ACLU

P.S. As so many of us take to the streets to protest the white supremacy inherent in our policing systems still, please remember your rights as a protester – know them, share them, and exercise them. The ACLU has your back.