WASHINGTON — Philonise Floyd, whose brother’s loss of life in police custody has impressed two weeks of sprawling protests throughout the nation, m
WASHINGTON — Philonise Floyd, whose brother’s loss of life in police custody has impressed two weeks of sprawling protests throughout the nation, made an impassioned plea to Congress on Wednesday to enact sweeping adjustments to legislation enforcement in America to handle police brutality and systemic racism.
In wrenching testimony on Capitol Hill, Mr. Floyd described to the Home Judiciary Committee the agony he felt as he watched the video of George Floyd, his older brother, dying whereas pinned underneath the knee of a white police officer for practically 9 minutes, gasping that he couldn’t breathe. The elder Mr. Floyd was arrested over a criticism that he had purchased cigarettes with a counterfeit $20 invoice.
“I’m asking you, is that what a black man’s life is value? Twenty {dollars}?” Mr. Floyd requested members of Congress. “That is 2020. Sufficient is sufficient. The folks marching within the streets are telling you sufficient is sufficient.”
Mr. Floyd was the primary witness and marquee voice amongst greater than a half-dozen civil rights specialists and activists at a listening to known as to contemplate probably the most expansive federal intervention into legislation enforcement that lawmakers have proposed in current reminiscence, which was put forth by Democrats this week. His remarks got here a day after his brother was laid to relaxation in Houston, amid a groundswell of public assist for the Black Lives Matter motion, widespread protests which have convulsed large cities and small cities alike, and a quickly unfolding nationwide dialog on race in America.
“Have a look at what you probably did, large brother,” Mr. Floyd mentioned. “You’re altering the world.”
His testimony added to the mounting sense of urgency on Capitol Hill to overtake legislation enforcement practices and tackle systemic racism in policing. Home Democrats have indicated that they intend to behave shortly, with a vote on their laws deliberate by the top of the month. Congressional Republicans, confronted with a fast shift in public opinion, are scrambling to coalesce round a legislative response.
Consultant Jerrold Nadler, Democrat of New York and the chairman of the committee, opened the listening to with the phrases “I can’t breathe,” quoting the phrase uttered by Mr. Floyd and different black males who’ve died in police custody.
“The nation is demanding that we enact significant change,” Mr. Nadler mentioned. He known as for Congress to institute a brand new paradigm for legislation enforcement that he described as “a guardian — not warrior — mannequin of policing.”
The Democrats’ invoice proposes important adjustments to the foundations that govern how cops function and the way they are often held accountable for wrongdoing, and would make it simpler to determine, observe and prosecute police misconduct. It will curtail protections that defend officers accused of misconduct from being prosecuted, ban chokeholds and different neck-pressure techniques just like the one used on Mr. Floyd, and mandate that legislation enforcement officers use lethal drive solely as a final resort.
In his opening remarks, Consultant Jim Jordan of Ohio, the highest Republican on the panel, immediately addressed Mr. Floyd and known as his brother’s loss of life “as flawed as flawed will be,” saying that the general public was hungering for “an actual dialogue, actual debate and actual options in regards to the police remedy of African-Individuals.”
However Mr. Jordan equated his loss of life with that of a federal legislation enforcement officer who was killed within the line of responsibility throughout protests final month in Oakland, Calif., utilizing the identical phrases to sentence the loss of life of Dave Underwood. Republicans invited his sister, Angela Jacobs Underwood, to testify alongside Philonise Floyd.
Mr. Jordan blasted Democrats and the defund the police motion, which requires shifting some police funding to different packages like psychological well being or housing, calling the concept “pure madness.” He additionally praised legislation enforcement officers, who he mentioned needed to deal with looters and rioters “attacking harmless folks.”
Home Republicans and the witnesses they invited used their time to sentence activists calling for defunding the police, and largely didn’t tackle any of the precise measures proposed by Democrats of their laws.
“The prospect of defunding and or dismantling of police forces throughout the nation is likely one of the most unwise, irresponsible proposals by American politicians in our nation’s historical past,” Pastor Darrell Scott, an adviser to Mr. Trump, testified.
Congressional Democrats’ laws wouldn’t defund or in any other case dismantle police departments, although it might situation some federal grants on adoption of anti-discrimination measures and different practices designed to forestall the extreme use of drive.
Civil rights activists invited to testify by Democrats hailed the proposal as a primary step in a sequence of mandatory actions to confront systemic racial bias in policing.
“The nationwide outcry in current weeks is something however a response to 1 remoted incident or the misconduct of some ‘dangerous apples,’” mentioned Vanita Gupta, the president of the Management Convention on Civil & Human Rights, utilizing a phrase employed by a number of Republicans to explain the issue in legislation enforcement. “This second requires a reckoning with how now we have addressed public security over the past a number of a long time. We have to take a look at ourselves and ask the arduous questions.”