Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey. State House News Service photo / file
Hopes for a just America cannot survive if the country does not come together to build a new system correcting centuries of racism, inequities and violence, Attorney General Maura Healey said Tuesday.
In an annual speech to the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, the state’s top law enforcement official urged white Americans to acknowledge “400 years of racism and oppression” that Black and brown people have faced, dating back to when European colonizers pillaged Native territories and launched the Atlantic slave trade.
While she said she does not endorse violence, Healey described the widespread social unrest as well as awareness raised by the COVID-19 pandemic are opportunities to atone for problems long plaguing the country.
“I won’t talk about rebuilding. Instead, I’ll talk about building anew in ways that rid us of the institutionalized racism that’s led to America burning today,” Healey said. “If we don’t, we’ll extinguish the promise of this great country.”
Asked about specific reforms she would support, Healey said law enforcement needs to continue adopting unconscious bias training and suggested improving transparency and data monitoring around police violence.
Chamber members, she said, can play a key role in addressing racism in their communities and investing in organizations doing crucial racial justice work. She urged business leaders to recognize the pain their employees of color are experiencing and to “make space for them to share their experiences in majority-white workplaces.”
“Let them know that you see them, you care, that they matter to you,” she said, later adding that white employers need to give people of color leadership opportunities. “Ask them what you can do for them. You will be stronger and better for it.”
Healey condemned the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man who died after a white police officer kneeled on his neck for close to nine minutes during an arrest, describing it as “another senseless killing by people who didn’t respect and value another person’s life.”
Derek Chauvin, the officer filmed with his knee on Floyd’s neck, faces murder and manslaughter charges, but Healey said the other three officers on the scene, who were also fired, “are clearly not fit to wear the badge” because they did not intervene.
Prompted in part by Floyd’s killing, protesters have gathered across the country in massive demonstrations in recent days to demand greater accountability from law enforcement and an end to police violence disproportionately directed at communities of color.
Protests have been largely peaceful, but police and instigators have subsequently clashed violently in several cities, including Boston.
“I support calls for a revolution, but not the revolution of violence in our streets,” Healey said Tuesday. “Instead, I’m calling for a revolution in mindset, a fundamental change to our ingrained assumptions.”
