Statement of the CPC Center on the Verdict in the Murder of George Floyd

Today's guilty verdict validated what millions of us witnessed on video and marched in the streets to protest: Derek Chauvin, a police officer, murdered George Floyd. We send our love to George Floyd’s family as they are forced to once again publicly grieve the loss of their loved one, and hope this verdict provides some small measure of relief. 

But it is also not the answer to police violence––individual trials don’t break systems of oppression. A guilty verdict doesn’t bring back George Floyd to his family.

No matter what we look like or what’s in our wallet, we all want to make it home to our families at the end of the day. But George Floyd and countless other Black people didn’t make it home.

It’s not enough to only focus on what happens after a Black person is murdered by the police. We need to seriously rethink the systems that are killing and caging Black people and fund the priorities that allow our communities to thrive. Our solutions must save lives. 

Now, we must continue the vital work to imagine and build a world where public safety upholds the dignity of all Black people, and where a transaction at a convenience store doesn’t lead to a death sentence for a Black father.