On the Death of George Floyd and Racial Justice
Along with millions worldwide, I am shocked, disheartened, and outraged by the senseless death of George Floyd in Minneapolis last week. Sadly, his death was only the most recent in a long line of such tragedies.
I am committed to working with my colleagues in the General Assembly and members of our community to eliminate racial disparities and inequities, particularly regarding racial profiling, excessive use of force, arrest, bail, prosecution, and sentencing.
Racism, in various forms, has been our national shame for four centuries. It is sometimes overt, often subtle, and always insidious. We see racism institutionalized in disparities in income, housing, education, employment, health care, and the administration of justice. We see it in politics and medicine and industry, in boardrooms and classrooms and on playing fields.
I can only hope that the events of the last week have inspired each of us to examine our hearts and minds, with the goal of understanding whatever prejudices exist within us. Locally, I hope that we can begin a real dialogue involving schools, houses of worship, businesses, and government entities, and work towards real change. More broadly, I hope that as a society, we begin to demand from our elected officials less bombast and more empathy, less militarism and more moral leadership, less "cracking down" and more "lifting up."