A statement from the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area on the murder of George Floyd.
“A hundred years ago they used to put on a white sheet and use a bloodhound against Negroes. Today they have taken off the white sheet and put on police uniforms and traded in the bloodhounds for police dogs, and they’re still doing the same thing.” – Malcolm X, 1963
George Floyd was brutally murdered by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who kneeled on George Floyd’s neck until he died. “I can’t breathe…please stop” were George Floyd’s last words, painfully reminiscent of the last words that Eric Garner spoke before he was killed by New York police six years ago. George Floyd, Eric Garner, Breonna Taylor, Tamir Rice, and so many others have died at the hands of police just because of the color of their skin. We cannot dismiss their deaths as isolated incidents or the result of poor decision making made by individual police officers. Their deaths are amongst hundreds of others who are shot and killed by police each year. Their deaths are the direct consequence of a racist law enforcement apparatus that continues to be used as a weapon of white supremacy.
While we grieve the death of George Floyd, we are committed to zealously honoring his life through our work to fight for racial justice. For over 50 years, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area has worked to transform the structural violence of systems that continue to oppress black people and other communities of color. Our hearts are shattered today as we are once again reminded of how far we have to go to create a world where George Floyd would have lived past his 46th birthday.
NOTE: In this moment, LCCRSF is following the lead of local POC-led organizers and identifying where and how we can be of most effect here in the Bay Area. We are urgently gathering resources and information and will be updating this page and others soon. Please check back frequently, or follow us on Twitter for the latest.