February 23rd, 2021
My prayers are with Daniel Prude’s family and friends tonight. His tragic death has caused an enormous amount of pain throughout our community, pain that still resonates to this very day. It has left us all searching for answers on how to do better and hold ourselves accountable to addressing a system that is clearly unjust, one that was devoid of compassion for someone who was crying out for help. Mr. Prude’s death laid bare for us the systemic failures that have adversely impacted Black and Brown communities for too long.
Just as Mr. Prude’s death exposed a failure of the system to respond to the crisis he was facing, today’s decision has exposed an entire system in urgent need of change. We must all work together – through our actions, not just empty words – to reform our systems and services so these tragedies are not repeated.
