DNC Council on Environment and Climate Crisis on the Derek Chauvin Trial Guilty Verdict

Statement from Michelle Deatrick, Founder and Chair of the DNC Environment and Climate Crisis Council: 

The outcome of Derek Chauvin’s trial for the murder of George Floyd is a first, small step toward accountability. However, this guilty verdict is not justice.

George Floyd was murdered. No verdict can give his life back or restore him to his family, friends, and community. The system that devalued and stole his life and the lives of countless others continues to operate. There will be no true justice until other district attorneys and juries act similarly, until racist, oppressive police immunity laws are repealed, policing practices are changed - and until systemic racism and its grave legacy of harm to members of the Black, Latinx, Native American, Asian American and Pacific Islander communities is acknowledged and countered. We need a system that centers equity, true justice, community safety, and healing. 

Racial justice and climate justice are inextricably linked. Our struggle for climate and environmental justice is also a struggle to end the system of white supremacy that values some lives more than others. We can not achieve climate justice without achieving racial justice. The DNC Environment and Climate Crisis Council is deeply committed to fighting for both.