Murder of George Floyd – Stop Police Misconduct

“My heart is breaking for George Floyd and his family, and for all of us. Yet, I see glimmers of hope. Young people of all races are peacefully marching and protesting in the streets, expressing moral indignation. Civil rights leaders and lawyers are meeting, planning and mobilizing to implement legislative and policy changes, for example to ensure that citizens are protected from police officers who are unworthy of wearing a badge. Those of us in the legal profession must rise up and lend our intellect, talent, creativity and problem-solving skills to solve this systemic and chronic injustice in our nation. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. remarked to a room full of lawyers at the City Bar in 1965, “I am impelled to wonder who is better qualified to demand an end to this debilitating lawlessness, to better understand the mortal danger to the entire fabric of our democracy when human rights are flouted.”

– Sheila S. Boston, President, New York City Bar Association

On Saturday, May 31, the City Bar released the following statement: The City Bar condemns the killing of George Floyd. Much needs to be done to restore public trust in policing and eradicate racism in our institutions. Police departments across the nation need to step up to discipline and remove bad actors, and there is at least one thing New York leaders can do now: repeal CRL 50-a. Stop shielding police misconduct from the public because, without transparency, officers are not accountable to the communities they serve. A just society cannot continue to tolerate the systematic mistreatment of, and violence perpetrated against, people of color.