Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Legislation on policing shows divide in movement
NEW YORK — As the anniversary of George Floyd’s death approaches, some supporters of change say the best way to honor him would be for Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.
Floyd was a Black man whose murder under the knee of a white Minneapolis officer last year sparked worldwide protests. Many activists, however, warn that some of the proposed changes have not been enough to stop past police abuses, reflecting a divide within the movement over what would constitute real progress.
“What we’ve come to realize over the past decades is that police departments, with their oversized budgets and their outsized political power, are able to rise above reformist policies,” said Monifa Bandele, an organizer with the Movement for Black Lives, a coalition of over 150 Black-led advocacy organizations.
The coalition opposes the Floyd legislation because it does not hit hard enough at systemic racism. Although Bandele thinks the bill is well-meaning, now is not the time to settle for the same old ideas, she said.
In Congress, hopes of passing a package by the May 25 anniversary have faded as negotiations between the House and Senate grind on. But top negotiator Rep. Karen Bass, D- Calif., said she remains hopeful of an eventual compromise.
The House approved the sweeping police overhaul earlier this year, but it faces stiff resistance from Republicans in the closely divided Senate. Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina has a more modest alternative and the parties have been engaged in long, private negotiations over a potential compromise.
One key debate has been whether to allow individual police officers to be sued over their actions, changing the so-called qualified immunity protections for law enforcement. Republicans largely object to that approach and prefer to hold the officers’ employers responsible.
Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., the highest-ranking Black lawmaker in Congress, has suggested he would be open to a compromise and Bass said she agreed with his broader point that it’s not worth walking away from a deal if Democrats cannot include every priority.
Police have killed roughly 1,000 people in the U.S. each year since 2015 and a disproportionate number of the victims have been Black. Studies of criminal justice data show Black Americans are far more likely than white Americans to be pulled over by police and are as much as three times more likely to be searched.
Black men were about 2.5 times more likely than white men to be killed by police between 2013 and 2018, according to a 2019 study published by the National Academy of Sciences. Black women were 1.4 more times likely than white women to be killed by police, the study revealed.
Jim Burch, president of the nonpartisan National Police Foundation, which supports the advancement and overhaul of policing through science and innovation, said he is encouraged by the focus on policing changes at the federal level.
The legislation named after Floyd “offers many worthy proposals, as well as some requiring further analysis and clarity in order to make a positive impact in the manner intended,” Burch said in an email.
Last July, the Movement for Black Lives sought support in Congress for its BREATHE Act, which among other proposals, would eliminate the Drug Enforcement Administration and ban the use of surveillance technology on communities that activists say are over-policed.
Selwyn Jones, a maternal uncle of George Floyd, said he was disappointed that Congress would not pass the Floyd legislation this week.
“We don’t live in a perfect world,” he said Friday. “We, as Black people, have been fighting a battle for 400 years.”