Mayor Darrell Steinberg addresses tonight's planned protests in Sacramento

June 6 march in Sacramento protesting the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers.

The police shooting of Jacob Blake has once again revealed the sickness in America that never goes away. Once again, Black Americans and all people of conscience have been traumatized by seeing someone who could be their child, their parent or their partner gunned down by police. And they have reacted with the same outrage any of us would feel had that been our loved one and when forced to endure systemic racism that never seems to go away, and which too many people who look like me pretend doesn’t even exist.

In recent months, this outrage has created a righteous push for change that we can see and feel in Sacramento. Thousands of people have peacefully protested, and many have continued doing the hard work, including police reform, and defining a permanent city policy that the city always analyze the racial impact of its major budget and policy decisions.

Tonight we expect two protests. The people of Sacramento do not need their Mayor or any city official to approve or sanctify the power of peaceful, principled protest. I am grateful to live in a city where people care enough to take to the streets after a hard day's work to stand in solidarity with one another and other communities in pain. I support this and will always support this. It is the second after dark protest where I have an issue.

Vandalizing or destroying Sacramento’s businesses is not principled protest. These hard-working business owners, many from our diverse communities, are struggling to serve our community during the Covid pandemic. Targeting them is cruel and doesn’t recognize the humanity of those who have poured the lives and their savings into enlivening our downtown and our neighborhoods.

We will uplift those protesting loudly and peacefully. At the same time, we will hold those who destroy property fully accountable. We will encourage our Sacramento law enforcement authorities to do everything they can to prevent the destruction or damage to hard working businesses, including arrests on the spot where it safe for the officers and the public.

We must not divide. We must not let the call for justice be weakened by violence or destruction. We must push for real change, for police reform, for non-law enforcement responses to non criminal situations, for independent review of excessive force, for more change, as we are doing everyday at our city.

Let us keep the peace while we change what must be changed.

Mayor Steinberg participates in June 6 march protesting the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers.