I feel compelled to use this platform to address what happened to George Floyd in Minneapolis – and to Breonna Taylor in Kentucky, and Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia, and Christian Cooper in New York City, and countless others whose memories we cannot allow time to erase.
Events that echo what we have seen happen to too many people, too many times, in too many places – and yet we, as a people, have not yet found the humanity to stop these vile, horrid acts from happening, to truly contend with the racism that permeates our society and root it out.
As a white elected official, I feel a special responsibility to speak out today and own the obligation that I have to shape public policy in a more equitable direction.
Being Black in America cannot be a death sentence. But it is. In some ways, it is. And it's dangerous to pretend otherwise.
We must actually do something to change that reality – to make it so men like George Floyd are not killed on a street corner, gasping for air in broad daylight – one moment alive, and the next moment, gone.
People deserve to breathe. They deserve to live. George Floyd’s family should not have woken up today in a world without him in it.
This investigation requires all possible accountability and transparency to deliver the closest thing to justice here – but it will never bring George Floyd back.
I am especially saddened that – amidst all the other challenges that we are all facing right now – people of color have this extra burden to bear, as they have for too long.
This moment must become a call to action for Illinoisans – for Americans – to see the humanity in every person no matter their race, creed, color, socioeconomic status or sexual orientation. To George Floyd and to his family, may his memory be for a blessing.
