Posted: April 15, 2021
Statement from our Executive Director, Irma Márquez Trapero
This has been a heartbreaking and traumatic week for communities of color with the constant focus on police murdering people who they are sworn to protect.
We continue to see law enforcement killing brown and black people and beloved members of our communities without impunity. We hold close to the family of young, 20-year-old, Daunte Wright, who was murdered in Brooklyn Center on Sunday.
Yesterday, the City of Chicago released the March 29th video of the police shooting of Adam Toledo, an unarmed 13-year-old child who was killed despite holding his hands up in a surrender position.
These shootings along with reliving George Floyd’s death at the hands of police have created a sense of pain, sadness, anger, and anxiety for so many in our community.
Enough is enough. The system continues to terrorize, underfund, and fail our brown and black communities. We demand change and accountability. Many of us have been fighting for reform for years. For others, we can no longer serve as bystanders. We must actively fight against white supremacy and the institutions that continue to fail us.
LatinoLEAD will continue fostering ways for our network to have collective impact. We demand change in the way we are treated by police. People of color deserve to be treated with respect and dignity.
As we end this most difficult week, we hope that you’re also guarding your energy, taking time to heal and reflect on what you need so that together, we can continue fighting for bold and radical change in our criminal justice system.
In solidarity,
Irma Márquez Trapero
(she/her/ella)