‘We Demand Justice for George Floyd’ – An Open Letter

For those who think slavery ended with Abraham Lincoln, the hangover of systemic oppression still carries weight today. Not in dark corners hidden from the public eye – but in broad daylight, outside a convenience store with many spectators watching and calling for help.

Solidarity in the wake of George’s death is not enough. A minute’s silence will not suffice. We must move away from performative allyship and ignorance, toward true justice and equality in every sense.

In a time when Coronavirus is taking lives indiscriminately, it seems the ones truly paying the highest price are Black people. Whether that’s at the hands of a deadly virus or at the knees of belligerent and renegade officers.

Authorities need to take responsibility and address the grievances that Black people have carried for so long. Starting with the people of Minneapolis, who are tired of burying someone of their own.

Our society is broken and it is damaged. We cannot be more concerned with law and order, than we are with equality and justice. Ultimately, George cannot die in vain. His life cannot be reduced to a hashtag because of another’s abuse of power.

As the entire world is tweeting #GeorgeFloyd, we don’t want his name to merely remain a hashtag. We are witnessing a historical moment as Black Americans are rising up across the country, and as Martin Luther King used to say: a riot is the language of the unheard.

Black Americans, today you are not silenced, nor alone: the entire world is hearing and watching you. We stand behind you in support and we call upon the US Government to issue a reconciliation plan. We demand equality and equity in the eyes of the law.

It is time to listen to strong leading Black voices. It is time to deliver justice for George.

The only way this can be achieved is if the perpetrators feel the full force of the law – the very law they failed to uphold – and if we all commit to change.

1. We call on County Attorney Michael Freeman to arrest and prosecute all four police officers involved.
2. We call for large-scale defunding and demilitarisation of police forces across the country, with the money used to build communities that have long suffered massive amounts of structural abuse and neglect.
3. We call for national legislation that requires those cases involving police misconduct be investigated and prosecuted not by local prosecutors but by independent bodies.George was not just a Black man. He is the symbol of a broken system that needs to change.

Our deepest condolences to the Floyd family. We stand with them in their fight to get justice.

Written by​ Fatima Zaman and Yasmine Ouirhrane.