WASHINGTON – Today, Damon Hewitt, President and Executive Director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, issued the following statement marking three years since the murder of George Floyd:
“As we mourn the senseless murder of George Floyd, we reflect on the remarkable inaction taken in the last three years. Black people have continued to fight for their lives within a system designed against their best interests, and yet not a single federal law has been changed to center meaningful police accountability. Policing legislation across the country has recently steered away from transparency and accountability, instead focusing on false narratives like ‘tough on crime’ and funneling enormous amounts of money and resources into systems that don’t work. Our failure to ‘protect and serve’ Black people and our communities is an indictment of all elected leaders who share ‘thoughts and prayers’ when we demand accountability and action. Our work to create a society that promises justice for all must start with Congress passing the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.”
###
About the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law – The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, formed in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy to mobilize the nation’s leading lawyers as agents for change in the Civil Rights Movement. Today, the Lawyers’ Committee uses legal advocacy to achieve racial justice, fighting inside and outside the courts to ensure that Black people and other people of color have the voice, opportunity, and power to make the promises of our democracy real. For more information, please visit https://lawyerscommittee.org
