Booker Statement on Derek Chauvin Trial Verdict

Washington, DC — US Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, issued the following statement:

“Today I am thinking about George Floyd’s family, his daughter, and his loved ones. My heart is with them as they continue to mourn.

“This verdict is a reflection of how our legal system is supposed to work: an individual guilty of a horrific crime is being held accountable for his actions. But this verdict did not and will not fix what is so deeply broken in that system.

“Accountability for the officer who murdered George Floyd is important and it is necessary. But it is far from enough. We must also hold the system that allowed it to happen accountable. What are we going to do as a country to prevent this from happening again and again and again and again?

“We must change this system that is killing us. We must change the complacency that allows it to persist. We must change our laws.

“Today’s verdict is justice served, but it is not justice for George Floyd.

“True justice would be a country where George Floyd is alive today, where Daunte Wright is alive today, where Adam Toledo is alive today. Where countless others whose names history will never know are alive today.

“True justice demands action, it demands change, it demands that we do everything in our power to prevent this from continuing to happen.”