The city councilor and candidate for mayor responded to the verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial.
Andrea Campbell, on April 20, released the following statement following the trial of Derek Chauvin, who was found guilty of the murder of George Floyd:
“Convicting Derek Chauvin on all charges was the right thing to do. But let’s be clear that justice would be George Floyd being alive today with his fiancee and family. While I hope this verdict brings some peace to his family, it is also a shameful reality that it took a Black man being slowly choked to death on camera for over nine minutes to convict a police officer of murder.
This is often not the result for many Black and brown families. Many are left wondering what happened to their loved ones when the cameras weren’t running. My family never got a final answer about what happened to my twin brother, Andre, who died in a prison hospital while awaiting trial.
The work to transform our approach to public safety, to eradicate systemic racism, and to ensure all have equitable access to justice does not end with the Derek Chauvin verdict. This work continues until no family ever experiences what the Floyd family, and countless others, have. This is precisely why I’m running for mayor of Boston: to break cycles of trauma, criminalization, and inequity and to ensure all our systems are transparent, accountable, and just.”
Shira Laucharoen is a reporter based in Boston. She currently serves as the assistant director of the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism. In the past she has written for Sampan newspaper, The Somerville Times, Scout Magazine, Boston Magazine, and WBUR.
