1 Year After George Floyd's Death: 'The Work Is Far From Over'

LONG ISLAND, NY – Tuesday marks one year since George Floyd died after Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chavin pressed a knee to his neck for nine minutes and 29 seconds. One year since Floyd lay on the ground crying out for his mama. One year since the world watched a video that sparked a piercing cry for change.

In the months that followed, protests were organized across Long Island that brought together hundreds who lay down on sleepy Main Streets, hands behind their backs, recreating those haunting nine minutes and 29 seconds as they cried out, "No justice, no peace," and "Mama, I can't breathe!"

On Tuesday, those organizers spoke to Patch about what the cry for change has done to effect change over the past year — and what more needs to be done.
In April, Chauvin was found guilty on all three counts in the murder of George Floyd.

"We have accomplished a lot in one year," said Lisa Votino, who organized East End protests after Floyd's death with Willie Jenkins. "But we always have to remember what got us here. As we ended this year with some accountability for George Floyd's murder, new George Floyds are created weekly. The world isn't protesting for them, although we should, so their names are largely unheard or forgotten."

She added: "But you can't have protesting without an ask. Our ask was police reform. Hundreds of us from all over Long Island created 'The People's Plan' — it was what reform looked like to us on the ground in the communities affected the most, with people sharing their knowledge and expertise to create a collaborative document that is so thorough and well laid out that it can be used by any jurisdiction with tweaks specific for those communities they serve. "
Votino said she and others were saddened "when it was wholly rejected" by both Nassau and Suffolk counties.

"Pieces were adopted by different jurisdictions across the island, but no jurisdiction adopted it as a whole," she said.

Top on the list of concerns for police accountability advocates is exactly that, police accountability, Votino said.
"We will continue to advocate for citizen complaint review boards instead of the police policing the police. We will continue to work with jurisdictions on enacting their reform plans. We were told these were all living documents and it was just a beginning and we will hold them to that. I personally hope that in the long run we will see better and stronger communities because of this work, but we all know that change never comes easy and the work is far from over."
As for Jenkins, he focused on the positive after an unthinkable year: "It's a sad day but also a day to remember and know that the world was changed by that tragic event and changed for the better."

New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo, who called for all municipalities to come up with plans for police reform based on community conversations after Floyds death, spoke out on the one-year anniversary."When George Floyd was murdered in Minnesota over a $20 bill, one year ago today, it stunned our senses and demeaned our decency. It was a spark that ignited over 400 years of kindling - the injustice of our justice system, the inherent racism, and pervasive discrimination that date back to before this nation was even forged. The violation, the pain, the hypocrisy cannot be overstated, and the frustration and anger that flowed afterward was indisputably justified," he said.

He added: "But our history is one of people coming together and mobilizing, demanding change and effectuating reform — of striving for and realizing a more perfect union. As Mr. Floyd's daughter Gianna said, her daddy changed the world. For the last year, our mandate has been to use the energy sparked to make real, positive, and long-overdue progress happen. We can, and we will, because until the community-police relationship is rebuilt, public safety cannot be renewed, and our country cannot fully, truly recover."

Nassau County Executive Laura Curran also weighed in: "Here in Nassau County, we’ve redoubled our efforts to build trust between our police and the residents they’re sworn to serve and protect. Looking to the future, the county will remain committed to working collaboratively with the community to keep Nassau safe and ensure all residents are respected and protected.”

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone also spoke out on the one-year anniversary.

"One year ago our nation watched in horror as the life was senselessly drained out of George Floyd by an individual who had sworn to serve and protect," he said. "His murder rightfully shocked the conscience of this nation and sparked anger, sadness, helplessness frustration, and particularly from our friends and neighbors in the Black community, pain."

One year ago, Bellone said, a powerful movement began. "While we are closer to justice today than we were 365 days ago, our work will not end until our nation fully lives up to its founding ideals, eliminates structural racism, and makes sure that tragic deaths like that of George Floyd will be no more."

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio addressed residents: "We saw a murder — let's be clear why there is so much anger, why it will not stop. We saw a murder before our eyes committed by someone who was supposed to exemplify law, was supposed to protect. . . That officer, what he did disgusts me to this hour of this day, and it tells us that so much more needs to change. We cannot let our country be a lie, we cannot let our ideals be a lie. We can't show the generations coming up that everything we told them wasn't real. We, in fact, have to make it real. And we have the power to do it."