Justice is realized in George Floyd's murder

A message from our President.

In the past weeks, we have watched the trial of Derek Chauvin in Minnesota and have prayed fervently and fretfully for justice. Today, the jurors came to a just verdict: guilty in the murder of George Floyd. This is one case, but it carries our hope for a national commitment to police reform and accountability—a collective will to confront the ongoing cancer of systematic racism in the policing of communities of color.

I have said before that this post-George Floyd moment feels different. Indeed, the murder of George Floyd last summer ignited a nationwide reckoning of our racist past and its present legacy. While we, as a society, take a step toward justice with today’s verdict, we realize it is one of many steps that we must take. In only the past month, we have witnessed mass killings, police-involved killings of young Black and Brown men, a rise in violence against our Asian communities, as well as a continuation of the COVID-19 pandemic. We are weary. We are triggered. We are divided. Many in our community have suffered under the emotional weight of the trial. Let us reach out to one another in support and in solidarity. Let us not give up our collective work for and with others.

Our faith calls us to have hope, seek peace, and fight for justice. May we all reflect and learn that peace is the child of justice and that compassion extends even to the guilty. I pray our police institutions will reflect on this verdict and take meaningful actions to hold their own to higher account. I pray they will seek communion with those they have sworn to protect and serve, but who fear their presence and doubt their intent. I hope that the suffering we have witnessed and endured starts us down the long road to an enduring justice.