Pritzker Condemns 'Vile, Horrid Acts' Against Black Americans

ILLINOIS — Gov. J.B. Pritzker used his daily coronavirus briefing Wednesday to demand "all possible accountability and transparency" in the investigation into the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man who died Monday after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck during an arrest. Pritzker also called on people to find "the humanity to stop these vile, horrid acts from happening (and) to truly contend with the racism that permeates our society."

"Before I take questions, I feel compelled today to use this platform to address what happened to George Floyd in Minneapolis, and to Breonna Taylor in Kentucky, Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia, and Christian Cooper in New York, and countless others whose memories we cannot allow time to erase — events that echo what we have seen happen to too many people too many times in too many places," Pritzker said.

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Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency medical technician, was killed by police in her home March 13 as they tried to execute a search warrant in connection with another person. Arbery, 25, was shot and killed Feb. 23 while jogging through his neighborhood. His death is being investigated as a hate crime by the U.S. Department of Justice. And Cooper was at the center of a viral social media video that showed a white woman threatening to report him to the police after he asked her to put her dog on a leash in New York City's Central Park.

Pritzker made his statement the day after Chicago residents gathered outside the Chicago Public Safety Headquarters to protest Floyd's death and stand in solidarity with people in Minneapolis.

Protest In Chicago After Death Of George Floyd During Arrest By Minneapolis Police

"As a white elected official, I feel a special responsibility to speak out today and to own the obligation that I have to shape public policy in a more equitable direction," Pritzker said. "Being black in America cannot be a death sentence, but it is; in some ways it is, and it's dangerous to pretend otherwise."

Pritzker said he was "especially saddened" that, amid the coronavirus pandemic, black and brown Americans "have this extra burden to bear, and they have for too long."

"This moment must become a call to action for Illinoisans, for Americans, to see the humanity in every person, no matter their race, their religion, their socioeconomic status or their sexual orientation," the governor said.