Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo Speech Transcript Amid George Floyd Protests

Art Acevedo: (00:00)
And we see right now what’s happening in our country, is we have a man, a son, a brother, an uncle, a cousin, a Houstonian, a child of God, that was killed by servants that are supposed to be servants of God that showed no mercy when they put their knee on his neck.

Art Acevedo: (00:24)
And let me tell you something. [inaudible 00:00:28] party. I told the mayor, I said, “You know what, Mayor? Hey, if you had your way, you would not be here today had you won your first election or had you won your second election. God knew he needed you in Hurricane Harvey.”

Art Acevedo: (00:48)
And let me tell you something, ladies and gentlemen. We don’t fear speaking the truth, because we’re doing God’s work. We are speaking the truth, because we’re covered by the Holy Spirit. We don’t fear what the people are doing, anything, because we join them in their anger. And if you don’t understand, when I was at that Walgreens a few weeks ago, and I got emotional, I was apologizing, because I saw a little old lady, 80 year old lady, Mrs. Cook, stabbed. I saw my mother, who died, may she rest in peace, at the age of 83.

Art Acevedo: (01:35)
And I just came from the third ward. I’m salty, because I was marching with Trae tha Truth, my man Trae, and Bumblebee. Bun B. Excuse me. Bumblebee. Bumblebee’s the car. That’s the devil trying to do that, because he’s a godly one. Here’s what I told him. You see, people don’t say where’s this anger? And you know what I told him? “Because for every black mother, brother, sister, uncle, cousin, they saw their family in George’s face. They saw their brother in George’s face. They saw their blood sitting on there, quietly saying, “Please help me.””

Art Acevedo: (02:22)
And I tell you right now, I don’t care what people think, because I know my God put me in this position not to keep my job, but to do my job and lift him up. And we will get through this, because we’re Houston. We will not let people come into our city and tear it up, and I’m here to tell you, to the fullest effect, that we’re united. Don’t think that our kindness is weakness, because when you try to tear up our shit, you ain’t going to have to face the police. You’re going to have to face the people of Houston that will not let the memory of George Floyd be hijacked by anarchists that are doing Satan’s work. God bless you all. Together, we will get through this like we did during Harvey and beyond. I love you.