For Immediate Release: September 23, 2020
Heather Cabral | (202) 550-6880 | heather@westendstrategy.com
Manisha Sunil | (202) 417-0171 | MSunil@westendstrategy.com
WASHINGTON: Following the announcement that only one out of three officers will be charged in the case of Breonna Taylor’s killing, Rev. Alvin Herring, executive director of Faith in Action, released the following statement:
“While we acknowledge that former Louisville Metro Police Department Detective Brett Hankison will face accountability, we are disappointed that such accountability will not sufficiently extend to all those involved in the police killing of Breonna Taylor. For months, the Louisville community and and BIPOC communities across America have been denied true justice, and continue to suffer at the hands of a racist policing system. Our children, our brothers and sisters, our loved ones have died at the hands of an unrepentant law enforcement who don’t value the lives of our Black and Brown loved ones. Enough is enough.
“The decision to charge only one officer for discharging his gun — but not for Breonna Taylor’s death — while also letting Sgt. John Mattingly and detective Myles Cosgrove go forth without consequence sends this community a message: the Louisville Police Department and city officials do not value Black lives. For months, peaceful protestors crying out for justice have been tear-gassed, arrested, and brutalized at the hands of police. The unwillingness to hold all of the officers involved in Breonna Taylor’s murder accountable is a moral failure that only exacerbates this longstanding pain. It is a reflection of a biased judicial system that dehumanizes and devalues Black lives.
“As people of faith, we have a moral obligation to demand justice for those who have long been dehumanized by our systems of justice that fail to provide justice for all. Even faced with such disappointment, such pain, we cannot relent. Justice is what faith looks like in public and faith without works is dead. We will stand in the streets and raise our voices and walk the last mile of the way until we can’t anymore. Justice requires persistent action. We must not be afraid to do what is right, and we must raise our voices to uplift the lives of the most marginalized and most vulnerable, because it is simply what our faith calls us to do.”
Rev. Herring has been fighting alongside leaders across the nation long before and since Ferguson. He long called Louisville home when he served as dean of students at University of Louisville, as well as the executive director of the Muhammad Ali Institute for Peace and Justice in Louisville. If you are interested in speaking with him further, please contact Heathre Cabral at (202) 550-6880 and heather@westendstrategy.com or Manisha Sunil at (202) 417-0171 and msunil@westendstrategy.com.
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Faith in Action, formerly known as PICO National Network, is the largest grassroots, faith-based organizing network in the United States. The nonpartisan organization works with 1,000 religious congregations in more than 200 cities and towns through its 46 local and state federations. For more information, visit www.faithinaction.org.
Faith in Action is a 501c(3). Faith in Action and its affiliates are non-partisan and are not aligned explicitly or implicitly with any candidate or party. We do not endorse or support candidates for office.
