"George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and so many others should be alive today. Instead, their tragic deaths are painful reminders that the systems we’re meant to rely on for safety and justice weren’t designed to protect us all," said Nick Turner, President and Executive Director of the Vera Institute of Justice.

"The dehumanization and criminalization of Black people and the use of unnecessary and excessive police force are legacies of slavery and white supremacy. The same legacies that continue to traumatize communities of color and fuel the uniquely American crisis of mass incarceration.

Systemic policing reform is long overdue. We call on law enforcement, prosecutors, judges, and elected officials to use their power and positions to ensure police accountability, independent investigations, and justice."

About the Vera Institute of Justice:

The Vera Institute of Justice is a justice reform change agent. Vera produces ideas, analysis, and research that inspire change in the systems people rely upon for safety and justice. Vera collaborates with the communities most impacted by these systems and works in close partnership with government and civic leaders to implement change. Across projects, Vera is committed to explicitly and effectively reducing the burdens of the justice system on people of color and frames all work with an understanding of our country’s history of racial oppression. Vera is currently pursuing core priorities of ending the misuse of jails, transforming conditions of confinement, providing legal services for immigrants, and ensuring that justice systems more effectively serve America’s increasingly diverse communities. Vera has offices in Brooklyn, NY; Washington, DC; New Orleans, and Los Angeles.