Thursday marked the 3rd anniversary of George Floyd’s death, and we sat down with Minnesota AG and Our Revolution Board Member Keith Ellison, who put Derek Chauvin – the murderer of George Floyd – behind bars in a rare conviction for police brutality.
A leader at the forefront of the battle for police reform and true public safety, Keith joined our LIVE Organizing Call on Monday to impart lessons from the case as told in his new book, “Break the Wheel: Ending the Cycle of Police Violence.”
“When we stand against police brutality, we’re standing up for the idea that the government should not be able to use arbitrary violence against you because you’re the wrong color, the wrong religion, the wrong politics,” Keith said.
“This is about equal protection under the law. No one is above the law, no one is beneath the law,” Keith told us in this clip. “This issue of police brutality is solvable, we don’t have to live with it.”
Indeed, Congress has not passed the George Floyd Justice and Policing Act and the number of police-involved incidents doesn’t seem to have stopped, but we are seeing more police officers being prosecuted for killing people.
But, when progressive leaders like Keith stand up for what’s right, they can face massive blowback, and it’s up to us to be there for them when they do.
Keith faced an onslaught of negative ads from police unions and big money in his run for re-election in November, but Our Revolution made 500,000 voter contacts and helped him win by 20,000 votes. “Because of Our Revolution, we prevailed,” he said.
He explained, “some prosecutors who want to hold police accountable and make sure everyone lives under equal justice, but think ‘if I do this the police union is going to come around next election and defeat me, then I won’t be able to do any good for anybody.”
“We’ve got to stand together. It’s way better to win the election, not just know we fought the good fight,” Keith said. “We’re in it to win it, and we know most people share our values — we just have to reach them.”
