Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (R) penned an op-ed in The Washington Post Thursday, imploring that the killing of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police must be a catalyst for change in the U.S.
“Floyd’s horrific death should be enough to finally move us to positive action,” Rice wrote.
Floyd was killed last Monday in Minneapolis after being arrested. Footage of his killing showed former officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck for over eight minutes, continuing to do so even after Floyd was unconscious.
In the video, Floyd can be heard saying that he couldn’t breathe multiple times before becoming unresponsive.
Chauvin and the three other officers involved were fired from the Minneapolis Police Department following the incident. Chauvin is currently facing second-degree murder and manslaughter charges, and the three officers involved at the scene were charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder.
Protests and civil unrest demanding justice for Floyd erupted nationwide last week. In some instances, the demonstrations have devolved into looting and other forms of violence, causing nearly two dozen states and Washington, D.C., to mobilize their national guards.
“Perhaps this is like the moment in 1955 when Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of the bus,” Rice wrote. “Or perhaps this is like that fateful Sunday in September 1963, quite personal to me, when a bomb in a Birmingham church killed four girls from my neighborhood and shook our nation to its core.”
Protests, Rice wrote, must lead to each American to “individual responsibility.”
“So I ask my fellow Americans: What will each of you do?” Rice asked at the end of her op-ed. “What is your question about the impact of race on the lives of Americans? And what will you do to find answers?”