NEW YORK – Color Of Change, the national racial justice organization, issued the following statement in response to the announcement that the two police officers responsible for the death of Alton Sterling in July 2016 will not face charges.

Rashad Robinson, Executive Director of Color Of Change:

“Today, another Black family was failed by our justice system. Alton Sterling was held down and executed by two white police officers, and his family waited two years to see those officers punished by the same legal system that was supposed to protect him. The Louisiana DOJ’s decision to not prosecute those killer cops is justice as usual for Black people in America – two murderers get to walk away without a conviction and Alton Sterling’s family is forced to live on without him. Our communities are subjected to a constant feed of Black bodies being murdered, but no one is held accountable.

These racist cops are not “just a few bad apples,” and their crimes are not “accidents” — these criminals are set free to reaffirm the idea that Black lives do not matter in the eyes of the law. We need to build greater political and cultural power to change the written and unwritten rules that criminalize our skin color and empower the systems that terrorize our communities. We will continue to mobilize and organize in even greater numbers to change the decision makers that keep this status quo in place.”