Three years ago, a police officer murdered Mr. George Floyd in a Minneapolis street while three other officers watched. The country erupted in rage, grief, and righteous determination to change the systems that allowed Derek Chauvin to so casually lynch a Black man in broad daylight.
The DOJ report released today demonstrates that, of course, the MPD has engaged in both patterns and practices of racist discrimination. The Black and Brown people of Minneapolis already knew, though. Across the entire country, we already knew. Those patterns and practices are the toxic reality that we must live every day of our lives.
Black people are exhausted. Brown people are exhausted. The DOJ's findings were, for our communities, a foregone conclusion. We have buried our own and lived with the trauma since before this country was established. We do not need to be told that there is a pattern or practice of violence against us by armed agents of the state. We live it every day.
We will continue the work as we watch to see what those in power do next. We have no choice. Our lives and the lives of our children are very literally at stake.
We also know that every development in any case of police violence compounds the trauma suffered by those who have already lived through it. Today, we send our strength, love, and wishes for peace to all who were impacted and mourned the death of Mr. Floyd and are reminded today of the grief they shoulder. At CPE, we remain wholly committed to advancing the work of racial liberation toward a future in which such losses will no longer have to be endured.