“Let’s do this another way” – Terrence Floyd
Why me? would like to send our heartfelt condolences to the friends and family of George Floyd, and to everyone who has been affected by his death.
Black lives matter, and institutional racism continues to kill BAME people across the world. We all need to do what we can to combat racism in the police and in wider society.
The death of George Floyd, and the ongoing tensions between police and the black community, shows the importance of restorative values in policing. Restorative policing involves engaging with people in the community, listening to their point of view, and entering a dialogue with them. Large parts of the black community in America have clearly lost trust in the police, and with black people like George Floyd being killed by police officers in plain sight, it’s easy to see why. We are not complacent about the state of racism in the UK either. Many black British people don’t trust the police.
We hope that Government and police are able to listen to the anguish being raised by protestors across America and the world, acknowledge their pain, and commit to genuine reform. We are heartened by the examples of police officers who have demonstrated this by marching with protesters, praying with them and ‘taking the knee’. This sort of action is not enough to repair the harm of Floyd’s murder, or of the many other black people who have lost their lives to police brutality. But we hope it can be a first step in a long process of healing and reform.
It’s important to remember that, while millions of people have been emotionally affected by Floyd’s murder, his friends and family have suffered the most significant harm.
In such heartbreaking circumstances, we were moved to hear George Floyd’s brother, Terrence Floyd, address a group of protestors so eloquently and passionately in the aftermath of such an intense personal tragedy for him and his family.
You can watch part of his address here: