Reflective Democracy

Common Cause is urging every member of the U.S. House of Representatives to vote “yes” on the Washington, D.C. Admission Act (H.R. 51) when it goes to a floor vote today. The legislation would make Washington, DC the 51st state in the nation. The letter notes that Common Cause plans to key-vote final passage of H.R. 51 in our next Democracy Scorecard, which we send to our 1.5 million members.

I am encouraged by the decision in the Chauvin case but I am in no way relieved. The criminal justice system has a history of failure in similar cases. This one conviction does not absolve a system that has disappointed the families of Michael Brown, Antwon Rose, Breonna Taylor, Walter Scott and so many others.

Today’s conviction of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd is a small step but we still have so far to go to address the underlying racism, police brutality, and lack of police accountability behind it. The conviction represents accountability but not justice. George’s Floyd’s murder must serve as one more catalyst to bring about systemic change and dismantle the white supremacy that drives deadly policing in the United States. In the wake of this conviction, so much more must still be done to bring about equal justice for Black Americans. Unchecked police brutality continues to claim the lives of far too many Black and Brown people and it must be ended.

What happens next time, if a black individual is killed by the hands of police but there is no video footage of that incident? As a black man that question angers me because I am not sure the outcome of that trial would be the same.