Advancement Project Statement on Daunte Wright’s Murder, Police Claims of Accidental Discharge
CONTACT
Alex Jordan
ajordan@advancementproject.org
404-558-3581
WASHINGTON – Today, in response to the police murder of Daunte Wright in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, Advancement Project National Office’s Thomas B. Harvey, Program Director of the Justice Project, issued the following statement:
“We are heartbroken and outraged at the murder of Daunte Wright. We stand in solidarity with Daunte’s family and the Black and Brown Minnesotans who are sharing their grief, outrage, and disgust after police have taken the life of another Black man in their state.
“Daunte Wright was murdered by a police officer only miles from where George Floyd was murdered by a police officer. And as Derek Chauvin’s trial continues in Minneapolis today, the systemic nature of racist cop violence is more evident than ever. Prosecuting individual cops will not stop them from routinely targeting, abusing, and killing Black and Brown people across America. We can never get outside of police violence because policing is violence; we can only win true justice and peace by abolishing the institution of policing itself, which empowers and encourages officers to commit these heinous acts of violence.”
Harvey also issued a statement in response to the claim that the police officer who shot Wright intended to discharge their taser:
“From Oscar Grant to Breonna Taylor to Stephon Clark to Botham Jean, Black and Brown people often pay with their lives when cops ‘accidentally’ use deadly violence, whether it’s because of air fresheners, loose cigarettes, or any other reason that purports to justify their murderous actions.
“What this individual officer intended to do when they shot Daunte Wright is only relevant in the most narrow legal sense. Our fight is not about the actions or intentions of one cop; it’s about the system that produces this deadly pattern of violence. These senseless murders will not stop until we abolish the institution of policing—which is specifically designed to produce irreparable violence and harm against Black people in every corner of this country—and replace it with the kind of care, support, and resources that will make communities of color free and safe.”
###
Advancement Project National Office is a next-generation, multi-racial civil rights organization. Rooted in the great human rights struggles for equality and justice, we exist to fulfill America’s promise of a caring, inclusive and just democracy. We use innovative tools and strategies to strengthen social movements and achieve high impact policy change. Visit www.advancementproject.org/home
