VIDEO: AFSCME is ready to meet this moment

Earlier this summer millions of people in our country and around the globe were horrified and heartbroken to watch a sworn officer of the law calmly kneel—hands in pockets—with his knee on the neck of a black man for some eight minutes until that man, George Floyd, was dead. The ensuing anger and anguish shook our country to its core.

That officer-involved killing of a black person was not an isolated incident but one of far too many that have occurred in our nation’s history. In recent years, with the advent of cell phones and body cameras, such abuses can no longer be evaded or denied.

The cumulative trauma of so many senseless deaths has sparked a national reckoning. Our union is called to action as it has been in every social justice movement of our times. And AFSCME is ready to meet this moment.

Here in this video, members of the AFSCME Council 31 Executive Board share their thoughts on the challenges before us as we renew our commitment to work to end ingrained racism and to defend the dignity of every human being.