Movement for Black Lives Statement on Police Murder of Keenan Anderson

After Los Angeles police brutally murdered Keenan Darnell Anderson on Jan. 3, the Movement for Black Lives issued the following statement:

“On January 3rd, a traffic stop became a death sentence for Keenan Darnell Anderson. Instead of giving Keenan the help he needed following a traffic accident, police tased him to death — all while he cried out George Floyd’s name.

Keenan was a devoted father to his six-year-old son, a beloved high school English teacher, a cousin, and a friend. He was just 31 years old when police ended his life.

Within 48 hours of that day, the Los Angeles Police Department also killed 45-year-old Takar Smith and 35-year-old Oscar Sanchez. Their murders continue to underscore the familiar pattern of police violence and lack of accountability that leaves our families and communities devastated and traumatized. While elected officials bashed our efforts to defund the police and upped investments to law enforcement last year, police killings reached their highest record in nearly a decade.

Police will never keep our communities safe. No amount of so-called ‘reforms’ will bring back the lives taken at the hands of police, or prevent those that will be taken in the future. The time is now for a transformation and reimagination of public safety in the U.S.

This work starts with #NoCopsatTrafficStops. Los Angeles must end police stops for minor traffic violations and enact community-based strategies for public safety, including significant investments in public health, violence prevention programs, and community infrastructure.

To the family, friends and students of Keenan Anderson and all those lost at the hands of the police: we are grieving with you, and we are fighting for you. We will not rest until we achieve the transformational change that will bring self-determination, safety and justice to our communities.”

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The Movement for Black Lives is a national network of more than 150 leaders and organizations creating a broad political home for Black people to learn, organize and take action. M4BL includes activists, organizers, academics, lawyers, educators, health workers, artists and more, all unified in a radical vision for Black liberation and working for equity, justice and healing.