As we acknowledge the first anniversary of the tragic death of George Floyd and the resulting national response, we welcome the following statement of our Green-Rainbow Party co-chairs at this time of reflection and need for substantive change.

Recent continuing killings of black citizens by police as well as the rash of mass shootings throughout our country must lead to more than head-scratching, political posturing, and empty inquiries as to “why is this happening?”. It provides us a refresher course into our long-term history and present reality. We are bequeathing to future generations a heritage of pathological violence which is both cause and effect of our national decline; culturally, politically, and economically.

This pathological violence is endemic throughout our nation. At the national level, war and threats of war are a perpetual tool of our foreign policy. It spreads through the militarization of our local and state police. It seeps into our sporting events via military promotional activities including advertising and direct military participation. It is endemic in our video gaming products for children as well as our general entertainment industry. Can a country so enamored by violence, create a truly safe future for its children? Judging from the recent carnage of our mass shootings, police killing of our black and brown citizens, it appears the answer is NO!

From the inception of our country, violence has been a tool of our expansion and economic exploitation. It is time to connect the dots. From the genocide of the Native Americans to the enslavement of black Africans and throughout our current lifespan: from Nagasaki and Hiroshima ….to the Korean War….to VietNam and the My Lai massacre….to present wars in the Middle East, Africa, and Yemen….to present threats against Russia, China, Venezuela, Iran, North Korea….to Columbine….to Sandy Hook….to Trayvon Martin ….to Michael Brown….to the killing of five Dallas Police officers….to Parkland, Florida ….to George Floyd...to Daunte Wright….to Adrian Toledo, our pathological attachment to violence is destroying our people and our country.

We must join together to express our outrage and in the ultimate act of true reconciliation acknowledge our history and current reality of racism, militarism, and materialism which continue this destructive path; accept responsibility as a society, and then undertake the heavy lifting necessary to rebuild a humane society for ALL.

We must join together to create a healthy future by demilitarizing our foreign policy as well as our state and local police (both equipment-wise but more importantly attitudinally), dis-empowering gun lobbyists and their bought and paid for politicians, exploring the roots and residual consequences of our individual and national racism, militarism and materialism. Any efforts short of this will have tomorrow looking very much like yesterday.

In the spirit of Justice with Peace, we demand that our people and our leaders honestly and immediately address this crisis of violence in America.

The work of the Massachusetts Green-Rainbow Party, the state affiliate of the Green Party US, is to bring an understanding of the roots and consequences of this history on the lives of not just Americans, but on the global citizenry at large. As a political party, it is our responsibility to grow this awareness, to offer thoughtful and practical solutions, and to work within the local, state, and national electoral process to implement them with the ultimate vision of a world of peace and justice where all can obtain their maximum human potential.