Missouri AFL-CIO responds to the murder of George Floyd: ‘An injury to one is an injury to all’

Jefferson City – The Missouri AFL-CIO weighed in last week regarding the murder of 46-year-old George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer who kneeled on his neck for more than eight minutes while Floyd pleaded that he couldn’t breathe.

“The murder of George Floyd was the latest in a string of brutal acts – the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, the lies about Christian Cooper – that demonstrate the racism and bigotry that actively exist in America. The racism and bigotry that endanger the lives, and attack the humanity of our brothers and sisters in Labor, and all people of color in our community,” the state Labor federation said in a statement signed by President-elect Jake Hummel, 1st Vice President Reggie Thomas and Secretary-Treasurer-elect Merri Berry.

“Working together we have achieved great things over the last several years,” the statement continued. “We raised the wage, to affirm the worth and dignity of all workers. We tackled gerrymandering, which has been so often used to silence the voice of communities of color. We defeated ‘right-to-work’ to defend organizations, labor unions, that are the surest vehicle for achieving racial, gender and economic justice.

“But in Labor an injury to one is an injury to all, and we clearly have so very much more to do. More to do until every single one of our brothers and sisters is free to walk safely down the street without being targeted for the color of their skin; more to do until those that are hurt by the powerful and connected have access to true justice; more to do until it is unequivocally apparent to all that Black Lives Matter. More to do until all of us are free.

“At the AFL-CIO we were born out of organizing. We are committed to honoring the memory of George Floyd, and so many others, by strategizing, organizing and mobilizing the working people of our state to help deliver the real, structural change that works for every single American.”