Washington, DC — In response to the guilty verdict on all three charges of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd, Silky Shah, Executive Director of Detention Watch Network offered the following statement:
“Today and always, we are in solidarity with Black people who have faced unjust oppression at the hands of police. This verdict does not change what we know to be true: a racist, unjust carceral system will never deliver true justice for communities of color in the U.S.
The killing of George Floyd awakened the public to the disproportionate impact of the criminal punishment system on Black and brown communities, and the movement to defund the police, led by Black community organizers, became a powerful rallying call for transformative change that is here to stay.
The murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Daunte Wright, Adam Toledo and far too many others were a result of the country’s decision to prioritize the militarization of law enforcement agencies over investments in the health, economic security, and wellbeing of Black and brown communities.
The solution hasn’t changed: we must divest from racist law enforcement in all of its forms and invest in our communities.
We know that the mechanisms built to target, detain, and deport immigrants are rooted in, and function in collaboration with the systems of anti-Black racism and white supremacy, which have existed in the United States since before its founding. These are the same choices that have led to the deaths of dozens of immigrants in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) custody.
For Detention Watch Network, the abolition of immigration detention is part and parcel of struggles against racism, xenophobia, discriminatory policing, and mass incarceration and our aims coincide with these broader struggles against racialized oppression.”
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Detention Watch Network (DWN) is a national coalition building power through collective advocacy, grassroots organizing, and strategic communications to abolish immigration detention in the United States. Founded in 1997 by immigrant rights groups, DWN brings together advocates to unify strategy and build partnerships on a local and national level. Visit detentionwatchnetwork.org. Follow on Twitter @DetentionWatch.