LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. — In his final moments, George Floyd told officers he couldn't breathe. Advocates for communities of color remember those words and reflect as jurors deliberate in the trial against fired Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin who is accused in Floyd's death.
"It's exhausting to see how long the bureaucracy takes to even get one single case of justice. We've had George Floyd case, but within the same time, we had Breonna," said Brenton Lipscomb, an advocate for underrepresented communities who organized protests after George Floyd's death. "Just to see all these things continuously happen, it's super tiring and exhausting."
"We know the verdict does not bring about justice. We can't bring back George Floyd. We can't bring back any of those whose lives were cut short by police brutality over the past several years," said Pastor Matthew Lenahan, who serves Zion Lutheran Church in Akron and POWER Interfaith Lancaster County.
POWER is a coalition of multiracial, interfaith leaders and congregations who are working to end systemic racism. Pastor Lenahan says the work doesn't end just because the trial does. He believes communities must continue to have uncomfortable conversations. He says white people need to be allies.
"As a white leader, working with a predominantly white, Christian community, I think it's my role to speak against white supremacy and the racial abuse of Black and brown people," said Lenahan. "The killing of Black and brown people and the many justifications for those killings persists, and until those killings stop, we cannot say we made any legitimate progress."
"Rome wasn't built in a day, as my parents always told me, so I don't expect gigantic change to happen tomorrow, but I do expect a message to be sent," stated Lipscomb. "I do expect people's minds to start running more effectively and being able to say, 'okay. I need to start thinking, what if this was me? what if this was my son? What if it was my brother?'"
Their hope for the future is high.
"We're hoping for policing that protects all citizens equally. We're hoping for an end to racist violence. We're hoping for equitable funding for public schools... We hope perpetrators of racist violence, no matter who you are, will be held accountable according to the law, and we hope for others to see and say that black lives do matter that racially motivated violence is evil and must end," added Lenahan.
"As far as hope, I would say, African Americans, at least in my experience specifically, are built on hope. I can't take today and not say I'm hopeful for change. If I wasn't hopeful for change, I don't think I would protest one day in this world," added Lipscomb.