TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Locally, people were glued to their devices waiting for Derek Chauvin's sentence to come in.
A calm and determined reaction came from Pillars & Bridges Tucson, a nonprofit working to bridge the police and community gap.
The group members present all agreed the 22.5 year sentence is a starting point, but say justice will never be served because George Floyd's life is gone forever.
“We are not waiting on the next issue. We’re gonna be working right now all the way through,” said Tony Ruffin, member.
The nonprofit was started because of Floyd's murder. Group leader Cedric Cook said Friday's sentencing was almost like a milestone.
"We came together to see what we could do to make some changes in our own city,” said Cook.
A year later, group member Zach Mooney, said Pillars & Bridges are having conversations about the need for change with law enforcement and city leaders.
"A's a person and a member of this community, I want to make sure that it doesn’t happen here. So for me, the biggest thing for me over the last year about the trial and the situation is about having a conversation that has meaningful and impactful change.”
Engaging conversations like they had while they watched the sentencing come in.
Member Prisela Erives said she’s learned that there are a lot of voices in our community representing different views.
“I think that if we can get those voices together to come to some common understanding or some common ground. I think we would so much further in finding a solution to the problems or finding prevention to some of the problems we find," said Erives.
The group is expanding and is working to create policy change within our community.
