The pain that many in our community are feeling at the senseless death of George Floyd is not only understandable but is yet another reflection of how our Country has failed our neighbors of color.

This past weekend, 100’s gathered to peacefully protest and collectively grieve the loss of Mr. Floyd without incident. What happened last night was nothing more than an orchestrated chaos that put our men and women of the Providence Police Department, and those of neighboring cities and states, in harm’s way.

I believe that we must work together to make change in our Country, but the violence that we witnessed unfold on social media in Providence last night is not the way. Those individuals are not part of the movement for equality, they were agitators meant to do harm for no reason. Destroying our City is not the way to bring about the change that we need.

Together, we can create change in a peaceful manner. I call on all of us to do better and be better. It’s the only path forward.

My thoughts today are with our small business owners who were already suffering, the family of George Floyd whose memory is being tarnished by violence, and for my neighbors who are justifiably scared of what might happen next.

Be strong, be resilient, and let’s work together.