STATEMENT BY CONGRESSMAN WM. LACY CLAY (D) MISSOURI REGARDING THE POLICE MURDER OF GEORGE FLOYD
STATEMENT BY
CONGRESSMAN WM. LACY CLAY (D) MISSOURI
REGARDING THE POLICE MURDER OF GEORGE FLOYD
ST. LOUIS, MO – Congressman Wm. Lacy Clay (D) Missouri made a special statement today regarding the police murder of George Floyd and the systematic racism and excessive force by some local police officers which led to another tragic death of an unarmed, Black citizen.
The following are excerpts from the Congressman’s live remarks delivered at the Urban League’s Drive-thru Food Distribution community event in North St. Louis County.
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“First, I want to extend my deepest sympathies to George Floyd’s family. It’s clear that he was a beloved man who lived his life for others. Like most of you, I am angry beyond words about his murder by a Minneapolis police officer.
That videotape taken by a brave bystander has revealed to White Americans what Black Americans have witnessed for decades…
Racially driven, excessive force applied by some police officers who view Black citizens as something less than human.
The video doesn’t lie, and the whole world is watching.
George Floyd was not resisting arrest.
He was resisting strangulation.
And while the police officer who pressed his knee into Mr. Floyd’s neck for almost nine minutes has been arrested and charged with murder and manslaughter…
The three other officers, who stood by and did absolutely nothing, and the medic who made no effort to save his life, must be charged as accessories to this tragic crime.
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George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery , Breonna Taylor, Eric Garner and our own Mike Brown too. The list of broken black bodies at the hands of local law enforcement keeps growing.
And the hate and systematic racism that allows this violence to keep happening has never been fully confronted.
We need full Justice Department Patterns & Practices and Civil Rights Investigations in Minneapolis.
I hope they result in the same kind of sweeping consent decree that we achieved in Ferguson…which totally transformed the local government and the police department.
Unless White America finally sees, respects, and is willing to defend our humanity as Black people…as much as their own…
Our country will never heal…and our nation will never be whole.
My question to my white brothers and sisters is just this…
When do the promises of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness apply equally to people who look like me, instead of just people who look like you?
And I want to speak directly to my white allies in the progressive movement who regularly expect Black leaders to stand with you to advance your core agenda…
Will you stand with us now, or will you remain silent in the face of this evil?
Black Americans are sick and tired of being systematically deprived of our humanity and dignity by a deeply engrained culture of racially driven excessive force by some police officers who repeatedly make it clear that… some lives are worth less than other lives in this country.
That is an ugly, inescapable truth that every American needs to hear, and then commit to change.
If George Floyd had been white,
Would he have died on the street like an animal, begging for mercy while he struggled to breathe?
You already know the answer.
So, I pray for George Floyd and his family, and for the soul of our nation as well.
I hope the pain that we feel today can lead us to a future where systematic racism is replaced by universal respect and equality for all.”
VIDEO LINK OF CONGRESSMAN CLAY’s STATEMENT
https://www.facebook.com/CongressmanClayMO1/videos/650126302237334/