We Stand in Solidarity with George Floyd’s Family, the Black Community and All Those Fighting to End Police Brutality and Systemic Racism
Statement from the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association President Larry Rogers, Jr.
June 5, 2020
The Illinois Trial Lawyers Association released the following statement after its June 5th annual board meeting. At that meeting, Larry R. Rogers Jr. was installed as the 67th president of the Association. Rogers is the second African American lawyer to hold the position, after his father did 20 years ago.
Mr. Floyd’s death is not the first where the criminal justice system and our system of policing have failed a human being, his family and our society. This ingrained system of injustice targets the Black community specifically and has done so with little concern that it will be held accountable. But this time, it is different. The world saw cold, callous and inhumane police officers kneel on the neck and body of a defenseless, handcuffed Black man lying in the street. They saw the police officer continue to kneel on George Floyd’s neck while he pleaded, “I can’t breathe,” and remain on his neck until his body was limp and lifeless. This time it was undeniably wrong, inhumane and finally, everyone had enough. Now, we must do everything we can to stop it from ever happening again.
Trial lawyers have always been on the front lines fighting against injustice. We help victims seek the justice they deserve and fight to hold those that do them wrong accountable. The Illinois Trial Lawyers Association will continue our mission with a renewed focus to fight for victims of police brutality and racial injustice.
We know this fight because we’ve been in it before. We fight for individuals that have been hurt, failed by society’s safety nets and left to fend for themselves against hospital bills, disability, lifetime injury, insurance companies and government entities. We step up in those moments, knowing the impossible battles we will face and the countless hours we will fight. This moment is a culmination of all those moments.
This is a call to action for us to utilize the seventh amendment to both protect those who have suffered injustice or injury and to affect actual change on a system that has for too long oppressed the Black community.
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