Civil Rights Leaders Tell Congress Police Practices Need Reform

June 10, 2020 by Tom Ramstack
Civil Rights Leaders Tell Congress Police Practices Need Reform
Philonise Floyd, a brother of George Floyd, gives an opening statement during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on proposed changes to police practices and accountability on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, June 10, 2020, in Washington. (Michael Reynolds/Pool via AP)

African American civil rights leaders spoke out in support Wednesday of a bill pending in Congress that would set national standards for police behavior.

It also would ban chokeholds, reduce legal immunity for police misconduct and create a national database of abusive officers.

“It never should be that you can do chokeholds in one city but not another,” Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., said during a hearing of the House Judiciary Committee.

Bass was one of three African American members of Congress who authored the bill, called the Justice in Policing Act.


The pending bill was a response to the May 25 killing by strangulation of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer who kneeled on his neck.

Public outrage led to nationwide and international protests that continue this week. It also prompted members of Congress to call for reforms.

Witnesses at the hearing Wednesday included Floyd’s brother, Philonise Floyd, who said, “He didn’t deserve to die over $20.”

He was referring to the fact that retail workers called police when Floyd apparently tried to pass a counterfeit $20 bill.

Philonise Floyd mourned his 6-feet, 6-inch brother as “a gentle giant” but had harsher words for the police charged with killing him.

“Hold them accountable when they do something wrong,” he said.

Other provisions of the Justice in Policing Act would prohibit federal, state, and local law enforcement from racial profiling of criminal suspects. It also would require them to receive training on avoiding racial and religious discrimination.


Sponsors of the bill were trying to respond to a law enforcement reform movement while avoiding more drastic demands by protesters to defund police departments. The protesters want the money shifted to community awareness and education programs.

Witnesses and congressmen at the hearing warned of severe consequences if police budgets are eliminated or even reduced.

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said most Americans recognize the killing of George Floyd was wrong but warned against a reaction that is too severe.

“It’s a tragedy, it never should have happened,” he said.

However, other police officers who sometimes risk their lives to protect the public should not be subjected to the effort to take away funding for their departments.

“This is wrong and the American people know it is wrong,” Jordan said.

Witnesses who agreed reform is needed also agreed that defunding police is ill-advised.

One of them was Darrell Scott, pastor of Cleveland’s New Spirit Revival Center, who described how reduced funding for his city’s police department resulted in more crime.

Murder and drug crimes increased dramatically as the police budget fell 31% in recent years, he said. Layoffs led to a reduction in officers from around 1,900 to about 1,500.

“Once safe areas of the city are now unsafe,” Scott said. “I endorse police reform but it has to be sensitive to both sides of that issue.”


Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said, “History has shown that underfunding the police can have disastrous consequences.”

He added, “The overwhelming majority of cops are good people.”

A+
a-

In The News

Health

Voting

Congress

March 31, 2023
by Dan McCue
Thompson Presses For Vote On Background Checks Act

WASHINGTON — Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., is asking House and Senate leaders to call a vote on tougher gun purchase... Read More

WASHINGTON — Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., is asking House and Senate leaders to call a vote on tougher gun purchase background checks in the wake of the tragic mass shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee. Thompson, a Blue Dog Democrat who chairs the House... Read More

March 31, 2023
by Dan McCue
Cuellar Leads Bipartisan Effort to Slash Wasteful Spending

WASHINGTON — Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, is leading a bipartisan and bicameral effort to identify and eliminate wasteful agency spending... Read More

WASHINGTON — Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, is leading a bipartisan and bicameral effort to identify and eliminate wasteful agency spending and save taxpayers money. The vehicle for his effort is the Identifying and Eliminating Wasteful Programs Act, which Cuellar introduced in the House with Rep. Nancy... Read More

March 31, 2023
by TWN Staff
Social Security On Course to Run Short of Cash Ahead of Projections

WASHINGTON — The Social Security Trust Fund is projected to run short of cash by 2033, one year earlier than... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Social Security Trust Fund is projected to run short of cash by 2033, one year earlier than projected last year, according to a report released Friday. The report followed a meeting of the Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees, and was released... Read More

March 30, 2023
by Dan McCue
House Passes GOP’s ‘Priority’ Energy Bill

WASHINGTON — The House on Thursday passed the energy bill the new Republican leadership said was its top priority, but... Read More

WASHINGTON — The House on Thursday passed the energy bill the new Republican leadership said was its top priority, but in the wake of the vote, the Senate’s top Democrat said the legislation is dead on arrival in his chamber. “The GOP ‘energy package’ would gut... Read More

March 30, 2023
by Dan McCue
House Dems, Republicans See Very Different Future for Pell Grants

WASHINGTON — A pair of House Democrats are urging their colleagues to revamp the federal Pell Grant program, tying it... Read More

WASHINGTON — A pair of House Democrats are urging their colleagues to revamp the federal Pell Grant program, tying it to the nation’s inflation rate in a bid to tame the rising cost of higher education. But even as they press forward with their plan, a... Read More

March 29, 2023
by Dan McCue
Flummoxed by the Farm Bill? New Primer May Help

WASHINGTON — It is one of the most important bills the Congress regularly deliberates, a sweeping, multiyear package that governs... Read More

WASHINGTON — It is one of the most important bills the Congress regularly deliberates, a sweeping, multiyear package that governs the nation’s food and agricultural programs and has to be reauthorized every five years. And in addition to developing and enacting farm legislation, Congress has to... Read More

News From The Well
scroll top