Police-Free Communities Are the Safest Communities

The news of a guilty verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial comes with a mix of emotions — a deep exhale and breath of hope, exhaustion that the trial and verdict had to take this long and that the sentencing is still before us, relief and determination for this small step of accountability, and rage that during and after the trial Black lives continue to be stolen by police violence and white supremacy.

We send our love to George Floyd’s family, friends, and community in Minneapolis and hope this verdict offers a moment to finally breathe. We uplift the words of George Floyd’s brother, Rodney Floyd, who said, “I’m so emotional that no family in history ever got this far.”

For decades the conviction of a police officer for the taking of Black life and unjust violence was unheard of. 30 years ago, Rodney King was brutally beaten by police in Los Angeles. The video of the assault shocked the world, but not the jury, who let every single police officer responsible go free. The history and memory of that injustice, and the fact that of about 1,000 police shootings reported each year in the U.S., only 7 officers have been convicted since 2005, shows us that America’s racist and unjust criminal legal system will never deliver accountability, much less justice.

But this guilty verdict was not possible without all the people who took to the streets to demand it. The outrage at the death of George Floyd ignited a powerful uprising for Black lives. Millions of people of all racial and ethnic identities took action last summer with some of the biggest marches led by Black youth and other young people of color across the country. They risked their own lives to be out in the streets during a pandemic to demand justice.

We must continue to demand more than guilty verdicts. George Floyd deserved so much more than this — he deserved to live. We must fight to ensure no other family feels the deep pain that George Floyd’s family will always feel, or that a verdict like the one today doesn’t come as such a surprise or such a relief.

One verdict is not justice. Justice is a world where Black people are free of police terrorism. Justice would be George Floyd still alive today and able to see his family and be with his daughter Gianna. Justice would be Black communities that are thriving — good jobs, health care, clean water, and air. Justice means transforming the conditions and systems that allow for these acts of violence to be possible. It’s about repair and taking action to build a new world. Until we abolish the police, empty our prisons, and end the criminalization of Black and brown communities, there won’t be justice.

As we work toward an abolitionist world free of police, prisons or surveillance, we demand accountability for the police violence, mass shootings, and hate crimes that have targeted Black, Latinx, Asian, Pacific Islander, and Sikh communities recently. We stand together in solidarity to protect each other and dismantle white supremacy in all its forms, especially with and for those most impacted and vulnerable — Black trans women, LGBTQ people, and disabled folks. We hold Daunte Wright, Adam Toledo, and Ma’Kiah Bryant in our hearts, as well as all young people whose lives have been stolen at the hands of police. We will keep demanding justice for them and for Breonna Taylor, Tamir Rice, and all those lives we lost whose names do not become hashtags. Enough is enough.

We demand real safety for our communities now. We want police off our schools, like we saw in Los Angeles Unified School District last year and like we’re pushing for in Fresno Unified School District today. We know that the safest communities have the most resources — affordable housing, parks, libraries and health care. This is why we worked with young people in the city of Merced to win 1 million dollars for rental assistance and are fighting for an inclusionary zoning policy to ensure there is dedicated housing for young people of color in their families facing increasing gentrification. We must defund police and fund our futures now.

In the memory of George Floyd and all lives lost to police violence, we must continue to show up for each other and center the lives and leadership of Black people. The momentum and urgency to abolish police and invest in our communities only continues to grow. We will keep fighting, building power, and organizing to make our vision of real safety and care a reality.