WASHINGTON – Today, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) issued the following statement on the verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial.

“Despite today’s guilty verdict, this system can never deliver true justice for George Floyd and his family. True justice would be George Floyd, alive today, at home with his fiancé, children, and siblings.

“The truth is that we never expected justice from this trial. We demanded accountability. Today, a jury delivered accountability and Chauvin will face consequences for his actions.

“To be clear, the legal system in America remains deeply unjust. No one should die the way George Floyd did. A person’s murder should not have to garner global attention to result in accountability.

“We can’t bring George Floyd back, but we can, and we must, legislate to deliver the critical resources our communities need to be freed from the endless loop of trauma we are experiencing daily.

“Our communities have been profiled. We have been surveilled. We have been brutalized. We have been murdered. And now we need precise, intentional policies to stop the cycle of trauma and death.

“I will continue my work to end qualified immunity, the fundamentally unjust legal doctrine that has allowed so many who commit egregious acts of state-sanctioned violence to evade accountability. I will also continue legislating to dismantle the systems that create the conditions for police brutality and, instead, secure resources for the trauma-informed, community-based solutions our people demand, deserve and require.

“Centuries of institutionalized oppression will not be undone without sustained action, and I remain undeterred. I am holding the Floyd family and city of Minneapolis close tonight.”

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