RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Governor Roy Cooper has signed a lot of Executive Orders lately, but none like this.
"I don't think there's ever been a point in time where I have seen more eyes open about this issue than I have now," Cooper said as he kicked off the first meeting of the North Carolina Task Force for Racial Equity in Criminal Justice. "I don't think there's any question that there are many individual success stories out there across the state and the country, and many of you have been involved in those success stories. But overall there are systemic racial issues in our systems that we have to fix."
WATCH: NC Racial Equity Task Force hosts first meeting
The Task Force has 23 members from a variety of social, economic, religious, geographic and professional backgrounds:
Cooper said the task force is a response to the ongoing demonstrations after the murder of George Floyd, who was killed by former Minneapolis Police Department officer Derek Chauvin at the end of May. Chauvin is charged with second-degree murder in Floyd's death. Three other former officers who were present at the time of the murder are charged with abetting second-degree murder.