BISC Releases Statement on the Verdict in Derek Chauvin’s Trial for the Murder of George Floyd

Chris Melody Fields Figueredo 04/20/2021

4/20/2021

PRESS CONTACT

Caroline Sanchez Avakian

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Ballot Initiative Strategy Center’s (BISC) Executive Director, Chris Melody Fields Figueredo, issued the following statement today following the verdict of former police officer Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd:

At the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, we understand the rage, desperation, and sadness many of us have experienced leading up to this verdict, specifically Black people who have been traumatized over and over again. While Derek Chauvin was found rightfully guilty on all charges, there is still no justice when countless Black lives are being stolen from us and anti-Blackness permeates across our country. George Floyd should be alive today. His life mattered.

We stand with Mr. Floyd’s family and all the families and communities who have lost loved ones due to police violence. We won’t stop fighting for justice and liberation until all Black people can live freely and thrive.

As an organization, we will continue to fight against anti-Blackness and in defense of Black life. BISC will continue to challenge structural racism and center communities who are most impacted by it. The work is far from over.

We stand beside the Black-led organizations we partner with across the country and will do whatever is needed to support their leadership. Several cities and counties across the country are moving forward ballot measures to reimagine community safety and a world free of police violence, including Minneapolis. We stand by our statement from last summer and remain in solidarity with the Movement for Black Lives’ call to defund police and invest in Black communities.

We believe ballot measures can be a tool to give people the agency to challenge oppressive systems that stand in the way of true liberation for communities who remain under assault, and create a new world where people live with dignity and thrive. We will not stop until we get there.

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