AFT’s Weingarten on the Eve of the Fifth Anniversary of George Floyd’s Murder

WASHINGTON—AFT President Randi Weingarten issued the following statement on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the death of George Floyd, who was murdered by police on May 25, 2020, in Minneapolis:

“The five years since George Floyd’s tragic murder have been a reminder that achieving true justice is never a straight line.

“In 2020, we saw our streets filled with everyday Americans who not only recognized officer Derek Chauvin’s cruel execution of Floyd as a crime, but also as intolerable in a nation of laws that should protect us all. Today, a second Trump administration remains laser-focused on unraveling the good work that millions marched for and too many died for. That includes the Justice Department’s abandonment of police oversight efforts in the very places where police violence happened.

“The AFT knows that educational justice is tied to racial justice. This is why our members across the country have fought so hard to protect our most vulnerable students. And we’ve made progress, enshrining those protections in contracts.

“The march forward doesn’t stop. Not after Tulsa. Not after the Edmund Pettus Bridge. And it won’t stop now. The AFT stands with our members in Minneapolis as they continue the fight for educational justice. Maintaining a diverse democracy that recognizes the humanity of all its citizens is hard work. It can take years to move the needle a few more ticks toward justice, but that is never an excuse to stop.”