Mr. George Floyd was murdered in broad daylight as bystanders, and later the world, witnessed his life extinguished by Minneapolis policeman Derek Chauvin, who pressed his knee and full weight on Floyd’s neck until gasping for his last breath. Two other policemen held down Mr. Floyd and a fourth officer stood by and did nothing to stop it. In mid-March, Breonna Taylor, an EMT and first responder during the COVID-19 crisis, was gunned down in her apartment by Louisville, KY, police. Unfortunately, these murders are not anomalies in the United States. They are just two of countless other tragic examples of racist violence perpetrated by police officers across the country who are charged with protecting all of us–not only some of us. This is also a reality that people of color (primarily African Americans) in the U.S. live with every day.

This past week, people across Colorado and the entire country have come together, fed up with these blatant injustices, to protest. Urban Land Conservancy condemns this senseless violence and joins in solidarity with people of color, as well as all organizations and institutions that call for justice in the cases of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and the countless others who are impacted by police violence. Indeed, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. shared, “Every man (and woman) of humane convictions must decide on the protest that best suits his convictions, but we must all protest.”

ULC’s mission is to help create equitable communities throughout Metro Denver and surrounding areas by acquiring, developing, and preserving real estate essential to meeting critical community needs in high poverty, low-income, underserved communities. We envision a region where people of color and those targeted for displacement may remain in place, in the neighborhoods they love, through affordable real estate options.

Accomplishing this vision means we must work urgently to counterbalance the prevailing market norms and bring resources and systems to bear to create these opportunities. Likewise, it is the duty of every person and organization who claims a commitment to equity to stand up where there is an injustice of any sort and work to alter those systems. The work is intertwined, and ULC is committing to dismantling oppressive systems and calling out racism as the biggest threat to this vision we hold. We ask each of you to decide on the means of action that suits your conviction and then act!

In solidarity,

Aaron Miripol
President and CEO
Urban Land Conservancy