Khary Lazarre-White, Executive Director and Co-Founder of The Brotherhood Sister Sol, issued this statement following former officer Derek Chauvin’s conviction for the murder of George Floyd:
“We at The Brotherhood Sister Sol are, of course, relieved that former police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted for his murder of George Floyd.
This killing of George Floyd, perpetrated over more than nine slow agonizing minutes, this destruction of a human body, has resulted in a guilty verdict – for the murder that it was. And we are relieved for the family of George Floyd.
The killing of George Floyd led to world wide protests against systemic racism, police and state violence, and the taking of Black lives. Millions marched and demonstrated and organized in some of the largest protests we have ever seen.
But this was one verdict. It does not represent justice nor the systemic change we need, we demand and we will have. Our struggle is to ensure that all Black lives are as safe and protected as our fellow citizens.
- to remove police personnel from our schools and stop the criminalizing of our children;
- to ensure that the enforcement of existing marijuana laws is not done in a racially disparate manner, that those incarcerated for marijuana related crimes are released, and that individuals with marijuana related criminal records have those records expunged;
- to close the abomination that is Rikers Island, forever;
- to advocate for a transformation of the carceral state of America that sees this nation holding over 25% of the world’s incarcerated population within its prisons and jails; and
- to end the unconstitutional and criminalizing policing of our communities, and ensure equal treatment under the law.
No matter what has been done to us – our lives, our loves, our joys, our children, our bodies are as important, as delicate, as strong, as valuable, and as free as our fellow citizens – our movement continues until this truth is a lived reality. “