WORCESTER, Mass. - Tuesday marks one year since George Floyd -- an unarmed black man -- was killed by police during an arrest in Minneapolis.
The Worcester branch of the NAACP says Floyd's death serves as a reminder to keep advocating for better conditions for Black lives.
President Fred Taylor says in Worcester there have been improvements made over the last year, like the City Manager addressing equity issues, but says there is always room for more change.
"One thing we really would like to see and was really disappointing last week was to hear the City Manager say he was not in support of having a civilian review board,” Taylor said. “We will continue to advocate for a civilian review board because we feel that’s the only way we can justly have honest investigations. We need to have the people the part of the investigations when there is allegations of wrongdoing”
Taylor says Gov. Charlie Baker’s new commission creating a mandatory certification process for police officers is a step in the right direction.
It's part of the state's police reform law which was filed in the wake of Floyd's murder.