Dear Baltimore,

George Floyd was a Black man beloved by many. He was a brother, father, grandfather, friend, and neighbor. On May 25th, 2020 George was killed by Derek Chauvin, a Minneapolis Police Officer who pressed his knee into George’s neck for more than nine minutes during an arrest. Darnella Frazier, a Black teenage girl, witnessed and recorded the police brutality that led to George’s death. Nearly a year later, on Tuesday, April 20th, 2021, a jury found Derek Chauvin guilty of all charges in the death of George Floyd.

Many people hoped for a guilty verdict but did not expect it. For centuries, Black people have endured miscarriages of justice as elements of the state violated and often killed Black people and Black communities. We are grateful for the leadership and sustained advocacy, in Minneapolis and beyond, that led to yesterday’s verdict. Black lives are sacred. We must secure our truth. More work remains, and the fight for justice continues.

For all of these reasons, and more, we are not relieved. We continue to work towards a world in which no Black person fears murder by the police. Relief would be a world in which someone’s name is hashtagged because they accomplished something great and deserve celebration.

We offer our sincere condolences to George Floyd’s family. No decision by the courts will restore the loss his family has experienced. We remain in solidarity with the people who have vowed to realize the fair, equitable, and humane world we all deserve.

Here, in our beloved city of Baltimore, the work continues. Six years following the death of Freddie Gray, who was also killed by the police, we remain mindful of how far we have to go in order to bring justice and equity to our communities. Let’s continue to build and support our communities as they work to hold law enforcement accountable. Together, we must dismantle the culture of white supremacy that has claimed the lives of so many, for so long.

Yours in solidarity,

Baltimore Corps