In recent days, people of conscience have taken once again to the street to demand justice
and change. We join the many voices insisting that this time be different – that as a nation we
confront directly and provide reparations for a 400-year long legacy of oppression and insist that
Black Lives matter. It must start with the demand that police stop killing people of color, but it
cannot end there.

We are angry and grief stricken by police killings of Black people. George Floyd and
Breonna Taylor are two more lives cut far too short by official violence and the indelible stain of
racism on our nation. There can be no mistake. Derrick Chauvin’s knee on the on the back of
George Floyd’s neck caused Mr. Floyd’s death and the bullets from the guns of the officers who
entered Ms. Taylor’s home ended her life. But those most proximately responsible are not alone
in being answerable for this outrage. They may be but the final actors in a chain of injustice. That
does not relieve them of responsibility, but their arrest and prosecution is not sufficient. We need
change and to repair the damage done by a criminal legal system that is designed to ensure
dramatically different outcomes for people of color than for whites.

The violence against people of color is most exposed by police actions, but it is not limited to
the deaths that occur during street encounters. That violence touches every corner of our society.
As a nation we have 5% of the world’s population and 22% of the world prisoners. The
overwhelming majority of prisoners are Black or Brown and the population of incarcerated
women is rapidly growing. African Americans are five times more likely to be incarcerated than
whites. Schools today are as racially segregated as the day that Brown v. Board was decided.
Racial housing segregation is on the rise and wealth and income inequality based on race is
growing more extreme. The unemployment gap between Blacks and whites has been persistent
and has widened dramatically as a result of the current pandemic. COVID-19 is far more
dangerous in communities of color because of these glaring disparities.

The time for structural change is long overdue. Not just to our police forces. We must
reexamine all of our institutions and social policies to call out and remedy the barriers, borne of
racist policies and practices that stand in the way of achieving a truly equitable society.
The Washington Lawyers’ Committee is committed to work vigorously to fight racial
injustice and to seek fundamental change that creates true equity.