Teamsters, like all people of conscience, watched the video of George Floyd pleading for his life under the knee of a Minneapolis policeman with a heavy heart and rising anger.
We join with the Teamsters Union and the whole labor movement in speaking out against this injustice and we stand in solidarity with the movement to eradicate racism and police violence.
George Floyd’s murder was shocking and sickening—but we cannot honestly call it surprising. There have been too many such killings for us to honestly be surprised. That lethal combination of grim shock and a numbing lack of surprise lies at the heart of the agony and the anger that is sweeping our nation.
Racial justice is not just an African American issue; it is an issue for all Americans.
From COVID-19 to police violence, racial injustice is a life and death issue. We cannot hope it just goes away. We can’t ignore it, nor can we ignore the economic despair in many of our communities. We have to organize to overcome it—and organizing is what unions do.
We pledge to do all we can to make the Teamsters a driving force in the movement for racial and economic justice.