'This Is Our Work': Garcetti Calls On Angelenos To Continue Addressing Systems Of Oppression
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — Mayor Eric Garcetti, in his Friday briefing, took a moment to speak out against the killing of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man who died at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer.
"He was killed when he should not have been," Garcetti said. "He is dead when he should be alive. He was murdered in cold blood in front of this nation."
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Garcetti said the killing of Floyd was "another page in the worst chapter" of the nation's chapter in the treatment of Black Americans.
"And each time this happens, we have to speak clearly," he said. "We have to say the truth. We have to stop in these moments, as painful as they are, to right the wrongs that aren't just part of our history, but that exist here in our present."
Garcetti said Floyd was just the most recent instance, invoking the names of Eric Garner, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Michael Brown and Trayvon Martin.
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"These stories are endless, but we must find an end to them," he said. "This is our work tonight. This is our work tomorrow. This is our work for the rest of our lives."
Garcetti also called on non-African Americans to do the work of bringing the conversation of racial injustice into their homes, workplaces and communities.
"We must acknowledge racism lives, not just in our criminal justice system, but all around us," he said. "That's why our work is not only to demand justice for victims of police abuse, but to make community college and college affordable and free, to push for a higher minimum wage, to ensure that there is universal health care, that there is housing for people who are unhoused, lower prison populations and more job training and placements. These are anti-racist acts."
The call came as the city of Los Angeles prepared for another night of protests against police brutality, which Garcetti said the city would continue to support, after two consecutive evenings of unrest.
"Let us continue to demand justice, not just in Minneapolis, but across this country and to walk with peace," Garcetti said. "Let us honor the fallen. Let us push for justice. And let us march forward and march together. I know that we will. I know that. We will."
