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Rep. Omar Statement on Derek Chauvin Verdict

June 25, 2021

MINNEAPOLIS—Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) released the following statement following the sentencing of the former Minneapolis officer responsible for the murder of George Floyd.

"This is another step on the path to accountability. But punishment for past crimes is not true justice.

"True justice will require us as a community and as a nation to address the systems of oppression that create the conditions for injustice. True justice will require us to understand how those who take an oath to protect us repeatedly take the lives of young Black and brown people. True justice will require us to ask why we continue to spend billions on increasingly militarized police departments, while basic needs like healthcare, housing and hunger are neglected. True justice will mean addressing decades of economic and social neglect of our most vulnerable people by local, state and federal government institutions.

"To truly achieve justice, we have to do the hard work to make sure George Floyd's murder, or the countless other murders at the hands of police, never happen again."