There’s more injustice going on following the killing of George Floyd. It’s bad enough that it took a movement to demand the police officers responsible be held accountable, but now this?
Corrections officers of color said they were barred from guarding Chauvin. The reasoning was that because of their race, they would be a “liability.”
It’s more evidence of the criminal justice system’s racism. But it gets even worse.
It’s also been reported that Chauvin was allowed access to a cell phone! The New York Times reports that “a white lieutenant let Mr. Chauvin use her phone inside his cell, a violation of the facility’s policy.” With such absurd privileged behavior there’s only one appropriate way for us to respond.
Black cops are still at risk, and so are Black supporters of the police. There is no safety from the fact that white supremacist law enforcement could come for us at any time - while protecting murderous officers like Chauvin. This is the truth. So now what?
Criminal justice reforms alone are not changing the fact that no matter how many Black cops, body cameras, or bans are in place, policing is a part of a racist criminal justice system. You cannot fix it with more of the same solutions. It’s time to break the system that isn’t serving ANY of us - even those working within the force’s ranks - once and for all.