Powerful words by Loudoun County Commonwealth’s Attorney Buta Biberaj a few minutes ago (bolding added by me for emphasis; also see the video, below).
“Good morning. I am Buta Biberaj and I am a resident in Loudoun County. I look around me today and I think what a beautiful spring day. There’s a light breeze blowing. The sun is shining. The birds are chirping. And my heart is breaking. My heart is breaking because I see all around me that the world is not in a good place. And I say this: we need to band together to do what is right. We all suffered through watching the murder of the murder of George Floyd. And what we saw is we saw 10 minutes of a pseudo lynching take place in the public forum. And what we have to do is we have to look at what exactly that communicated to our community. And we have to look at the fact that what happened is for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, we all saw a man put his knee on George Floyd’s neck and hold him in that position as he cried out for help please stop, I can’t breathe! And the ultimate request or prayer for his mother – his mother who had predeceased him. That was the biggest communication to us that we need to get together and change this…
…When we saw a knee to the neck that was sustained for a period of eight minutes and 46 seconds, out in the public (!), that Mr. Chauvin knew was being recorded, knew was being witnessed, and that was not enough to stop him. The fact that we had three other officers engaged in assisting him in this murder and none of them stepped up to stop him? We have an issue with the culture. We have an issue where there is this silence amongst individuals who are afraid or who don’t feel that they can help one another do the right thing. That’s the culture that we need to change. Each one of those three other individuals…needed to do something. And I’m pissed because I don’t know if I’m more mad at Chauvin or am I more mad at the other three who were there who should have said something…yet, never did it. They didn’t step up to do the right thing which was to protect one of our own…who was a human being…Where’s the humanity?…We can’t allow this to continue to happen...Please be mindful this could be our day; we could wake up in the morning and see that this has happened in our community…Accountable is not after the fact is done, because no offense, that’s too freaking late… We cannot wait for something to happen before we rise and say, oh wow, our hearts are broken, I’m sorry, and send my prayers to the family. No offense; prayers are not bringing back Mr. Floyd, prayers are not allowing his kids to wake up this morning and have their father there…prayers are not enough…
…So take every opportunity that you have…have a voice, use your voice, share your voice. But be heard, because today is the best day that we can take the opportunity to say we…are not going allow this to happen in our community. The way we stop it is not after the fact, it’s on the front side.
…I’m just one person in Loudoun County, a county of 425,000 people. I also have the benefit of being an elected official. I represent the Commonwealth of Virginia, Loudoun County, through its Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office. I am the chief prosecutor and I’m making this challenge to our community. I challenge you to do the following. My email is Buta.Biberaj@loudoun.gov…Contact me. I want to know what your ideas are as to how we can make sure that this does not happen in Loudoun County, how do we hold our community accountable, how do we make sure that our kids can grow up and be safe, how can we make sure that every one of the members of our community regardless of the color of their skin can wake up in the morning such as today and say what a beautiful day and be guaranteed that at the end of the evening, they can say what a beautiful night and not have to worry about whether they or their loved ones do not come home.”
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