The following is a statement from the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) Board of Directors Executive Committee: COG Board Chair Derrick Leon Davis, Prince George's County; COG Board Vice Chair Christian Dorsey, Arlington County; and COG Board Vice Chair Robert C. White Jr., District of Columbia.

“As individual lawmakers and as a collective body, we mourn the loss of yet another unarmed Black American at the hands of law enforcement. We condemn the murder of George Floyd, and we grieve with residents across our jurisdictions and across our nation. It is the responsibility of governments in their entirety to protect and serve our residents. Too often, we fall short of that responsibility.

"George Floyd’s death is not the first. The killings of Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Freddie Gray, Sandra Bland, Walter Scott, Michael Brown, Breonna Taylor, Philando Castile, Samuel DuBose, Terence Crutcher, Eric Harris, Botham Jean, and hundreds of others in the last decade alone, and the countless others in our nation’s history, have been enough to require systemic change.

"The initial shock of brutality must not fade to apathy. We must listen to those who are grieving, re-commit ourselves to racial justice and true equality, and take action."