Rabb releases statement after former police officer Derek Chauvin found guilty on charges in killing of George Floyd

HARRISBURG, April 20 – State Rep. Chris Rabb, D-Phila., issued the following statement after a jury in Minneapolis, Minn. found former police officer Derek Chauvin guilty on three charges in the May 2020 killing of George Floyd: 

“While this verdict offers us a collective moment of relief, I am nevertheless angered to live in a country where there’s suspense about whether a white law enforcement officer will be convicted for being on camera killing a Black person with impunity. 

“Anything less than an overhaul of modern policing is complicity in a system borne of injustice, terror and surveillance, which for Pennsylvania has meant a 321-year track record of law enforcement protecting and serving the political interests and property of the most influential minority of our city and state without any history or commitment to transparency or accountability. 

“We are far passed the trite analogy of good or bad apples. We must finally acknowledge that we are dealing with a toxic barrel and commit ourselves to building a new vessel for change that centers on community safety and restorative justice.” 

As a member of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, I acknowledge this commonwealth exists on the tribal lands of the Erie, Haudenosaunee, Lenape, Munsee, Shawnee and Susquehannock.