Women’s March Statement on Derek Chauvin Verdict

Today, Derek Chauvin was found guilty of murdering George Floyd. This is our criminal “justice” system at work. But it isn’t justice. Justice would be George Floyd still here with his family. Justice would be a country where no Black people, or any people, die at the hands of the police — period. 

That justice is out of reach without systemic change. Rooting out bad apples, even putting them in jail for murder, isn’t enough. Because the truth is this: cops like Derek Chauvin, who killed George Floyd and too many people before and after him, aren’t an aberration. They’re a manifestation of a system functioning exactly as it was designed to. 

Police have killed at least three people — every single day — since this trial began. More than half of those killed were Black or Latinx. No band-aid measures will bring them back; neither will hollow calls for reform. Policing in America is a system that is rotten and racist to its core. And it’s a system that must be dismantled and defunded. In its place, dollars must be reinvested and duties reassigned to the people and things that actually keep our communities safe. 

We must fund the mental healthcare, food assistance, housing, and drug rehabilitation programs that people actually need to survive and thrive. We must replace the metal detectors and armed officers in our schools with nurses and social workers. We must take guns and tasers out of cops’ hands — especially when they supposedly confuse them in a crisis. We must create alternative emergency services that protect all of us from harm.

Still, that isn’t true justice. There is no true justice in a world without George Floyd. But defunding the police is how we get closer. Our entire organization is in solidarity with Mr. Floyd’s loved ones, the leaders and activists on the ground in Minneapolis, and Black people across this country. We are ready to fight — and we’re here to help shoulder a grief that is too immense for any one person or community to bear.