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The nation was stunned by reports of the death of George Floyd. Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin is facing second-degree murder charges for continuing to press his knee against Floyd's neck -- while arresting a cooperative Floyd -- until he died. Three other officers have anso been fired and arrested. Peaceful protesters came out across the nation, and looters took advantage of the situation, causing curfews in many major cities. A protest is planned Sunday here in Lansing as well. Civic and municipal leaders have spoken against the brutality of the murder, and the national narrative -- and the conversation in Lansing -- quickly turned to an outcry against racism in America.

"As a District Superintendent, it is my responsibility to make sure all students feel safe," Lansing School Superintendent Chris Pettograsso said at Tuesday evening's Board of Education meeting. "This is my responsibility to use my platform to publicly denounce racism, police brutality against black and brown people and to stand with, by, and in front of our black and brown students to let each and every student know you're seen, loved, and valued. It's my responsibility to take action personally and within our educational institution. By no means, does this take away any love, admiration, and gratitude that I have for our ally first responders that protect and serve every single day. The Black Lives Matter movement is creating a world free of anti-blackness where every black and brown person has a social economic and political power to thrive."

Lansing Town Supervisor Ed LaVigne also responded to the tragedy Wednesday in an interview with the Lansing Star and on Facebook. LaVigne facilitated the use of the Town Hall area as a starting point for Sunday's march, and will be present at the event. LaVigne said that he wants all Lansing residents to feel valued and safe, and any citizen or group with a concern should contact him to help find solutions when issues arise.

"I'm really proud of the younger generation that says, 'you know what? We need to have serious discussion on attitudes and the attitudes and the perception, and that people are not guilty until proven an innocent and people are not to be assumed to be anything'," LaVigne said. "And that really concerns me. We all can say that every life matters, but you know what, when you say black lives matter, you are specific. It's like when the Asian Americans were under attack because of the coronavirus, they were singled out because of it. And it's the same thing on a much wider scale with the African American population."

"I have been deeply disturbed by the scenes of the past week or so," says Villkage of Lansing Mayor Donald Hartill. "George Floyd’s murder by a group of police officers brought to a head the injustices that people of color have been experiencing for a long time. The transformation of peaceful demonstrations into riots and looting by a small number of individuals taking advantage of the situation is very disturbing. It has been the perfect storm especially during the pandemic that we are experiencing. In addition to the violence, large crowds with shouting and lack of social distancing will almost certainly lead to a surge in COVID-19 cases just as the situation is beginning to stabilize in much of the country. We are fortunate here that the demonstrations have been peaceful and carried out with respect and is a strong compliment to our citizens and I am proud to be a resident here."

The Tompkins County Legislature unanimously passed a resolution condemning the killing of Floyd and institutional racism. Legislator Anne Koreman (D-Ulysses) submitted the resolution from the floor, saying “I believe this is just one small thing that we can do, and a necessary first step to bearing witness to injustice.”

Legislature Chairwoman Leslyn McBean-Clairborne (D-Ithaca) asked the Tompkins County community to reflect on the killing of Floyd and called on “citizens to not be innocent bystanders to injustice. We’re expected to carry on like everything is ok, but it’s not ok for me and it should not be ok for you.”

LaVigne noted that most law enforcement offices are admirable, but there are some bad apples.

"My heart goes out to the peaceful demonstrators," he said. "My heart goes out to our, our wonderful police officers who try everyday and put the lives online. My heart goes out to our teachers and everybody who is trying to make our community better. It's absolutely tragic," LaVigne said. "We've been trying to change this culture over so many years. I lived through the sixties and seventies with the riots. And in many cases we made tremendous progress, but then you would have bad things happen. And, and all of a sudden it just explodes."

"I understand there are riots, looters violence," said Pettograsso. "I do not in any way condone illegal violent behavior, however, we can not let the true grief and injustice get lost by focusing solely on these acts."

Tompkins County Sheriff Derek Osborne also responded to the Floyd killing at Tuesdays County Legislature meeting. He said that the Sheriff’s Office has recently updated a Duty to Intervene policy that protects Sheriff Department members who act on their duty to intervene to prevent or minimize misconduct by another officer.

Osbourne was critical of the Minneapolis police Department, saying, “In police culture it starts at the top, this is an example of failed leadership, and I haven’t talked to one officer that feels any differently than I do.”

A major part of Osborne's platform when he ran for Sheriff was improving community involvement, and he has made strides in that area.  In a Facebook post Wednesday, Osborne wrote, "My hope is that the people of Tompkins County feel that they can rely on the Sheriff's Office and know that we are grieving with them and share in their outrage. Now more than ever, it is time for collaboration between law enforcement and the community we took an oath to serve and protect."

LaVigne added that he intends to act on issues as they are brought to him in his role as Town Supervisor, and noted that he has been responsive to minority groups ingluding the LGBTQ community when they wanted to fly the rainbow flag on the Town flagpole to celebrate Pride Week. He noted that resulted not only in the flag being flown, but in the Town Board passing a flag policy to guide further such requests. A retired pharmacist, LaVigne noted that the difference between black and white people is only 1% of our DNA. A 2017 Harvard University report put it at less.

"Treating people differently because 1% of their DNA is different is ridiculous. In my opinion, at some point, maybe 10, 20, 30 years from now, the next generation will look back and say, of course we're all treated equally. What a rediculous thing! Why wouldn't wouldn't women be allowed to vote? Why wouldn't somebody who has a different skin color than me be allowed to sit next to me in a restaurant? We need to get to that point."

Pettograsso also pledged action. The Lansing School District has placed special focus on 'Social Emotional Learning' for the past two years, which stresses empathy for others and strives to give students and adults tools to manage their emotions and achieve positive goals. Pettograsso pledged Monday to place special focus on racial justice.

"As your Superintendent, I'm committed to racial racial justice for all students," she said. "I'll be working with the Lansing administrative team and the Board of Education to ensure that our current practices and inclusive education has a strong and intentional focus on racial justice. We will be utilizing a variety of resources using racial justice in education from the National Education Association as our guidance, as well as Black Lives Matter educational materials."

Protesters will gather at the Lansing Town Hall at 9am Sunday (June 7th) and march to the Crossroads area.

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