George Floyd should be alive today

04.21.2021 / By Annastacia Belladonna-Carrera, Executive Director of Common Cause Minnesota

Policing too often reflects a double standard, and people of color continue to die at the hands of law enforcement officers in absolutely unacceptable numbers. The tragic pattern must end now.

George Floyd should be alive today. A verdict simply signals due process, something that Mr. Floyd and others in Minnesota have been denied after basic interaction with police. Real justice for George Floyd and his family, comes from moving commonsense policing reforms so what happened to Mr. Floyd doesn’t happen again. Only the people united for change can deliver the reforms needed in our state. Minnesota legislators recently had the opportunity to bring commonsense accountability to the police but the Senate failed to act. Gov. Walz, Melissa Hortman, Speaker of the House, and Paul Gazelka, Senate Majority Leader must put policing reforms among their top priorities as they meet behind closed doors to negotiate bills. The people of Minnesota deserve better, and we – the people – will rightly continue to demand human rights, accountability, change, and justice for all Minnesotans. 

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