A statement on the verdict by the members of BYP100
George Floyd should be here; no verdict or sentencing will change that. George was murdered by officer Derek Chauvin almost a year ago. Chauvin was found guilty on all counts charged by Minneapolis courts today. While the state is now acknowledging this violence, they are culpable too. George’s family has been grieving. His community in Minnesota and around the world has not stopped grieving and honoring his life. We are tired of sitting in angst and nausea around the state’s response, or lack thereof, to violence towards Black people, especially Black women and gender non-conforming folks. We reject the state’s efforts towards justice and accountability.
On the same day that we are witnessing this verdict, Florida’s governor signed off on legislation to criminalize the most righteous response to injustice — protesting. These simultaneous decisions display, more than ever, that the work is not finished. Black people are still under direct attack by police violence, court systems, and politicians who would rather see us dead, poor, or in chains than free. Just last week, Daunte Wright was killed in Minnesota, less than thirty miles from where George Floyd was killed. Wright’s murder shows us that prosecuting police does not keep them from killing our people. We do not want more prosecutions and convictions. We do not want “reasonable” forms of violence. We do not want more body cameras so we can watch police murder our people. We do not want better training for officers to further harm us. We want our people to live. We want abolition. We want space for the things that help us thrive. America’s (in)justice system cannot deliver the world we know we need and that George & Daunte could have grown old in — only we can build that.
As the verdict was read Ma’khia Bryant (15) was murdered in Columbus, Ohio. She was seeking help, because all our communities know are the police, and when we talk about alternatives to that it is hard to imagine, but we are building and abolition is the way. Guilty verdict or not, police and prisons don’t keep us safe; we keep us safe. The thought that the conviction of this officer as anything else other than an anomaly is disregarding the harm that is inflicted hourly on Black people. When we say injustice, we are talking about the billions of dollars and resources given to police and not our communities. A conviction does not mean that justice has been served. A guilty verdict does not mean hope and legitimacy in this system.
When we say justice, we are talking about abolition: redistributing funding for police and prisons toward the resources our communities need: thriving schools, healthcare and wellness facilities, affordable housing, grocery stores, access to therapy, non-punitive conflict resolution, and more. This is the minimum. As abolitionists fighting for a Black Queer Feminist future, we are committed to reimagining public safety and justice. Our justice is a world without police, prisons, and other forms of carceral systems. Our justice is a world where all oppressed people globally can flourish, particularly our queer and trans kindred. Our justice is for the people, by the people.
We are not free until everyone is free.
In struggle,
BYP100 Members
