This press release was sent today from SEIU California…

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 20, 2021

Sacramento, CA - The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) California released the following statement after a jury found former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin guilty in the murder of George Floyd. Joseph Bryant, President of SEIU Local 1021 and Executive Board member of SEIU California, said the following:

“We are relieved to see George Floyd’s killer held accountable, particularly given the rarity with which juries hold law enforcement officers accountable even in clear cases of murder. As a union made up in large part of Black and Brown families, we are determined that police accountability be the norm - not the exception.

“While today’s verdict was a step in the right direction, it won’t bring George Floyd back to the people who loved him; it won’t erase trauma shouldered by parents who fear for their children's lives when they walk to the corner market or drive home from work. It won’t eliminate the suffering of children who will grow up without parents killed by law enforcement. At least 64 people - three per day - have died, each at the hands of law enforcement, just since the Chauvin trial began, the New York Times reported. The majority were Black and Brown. SEIU members hold the families of Adam Toledo and Daunte Wright close to our hearts, knowing so long as racism pervades our justice system, we could be the next to lose a brother or sister, son or daughter.

“We know justice will truly be realized only through a relentless, sweeping, anti-racist movement. We are committed to being part of this movement to eradicate the root causes of inequality, to overhaul policing, and to invest in communities locked out of opportunities for generations. Let us be the last generation to fear the police.”

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