Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Congress passes Wilson-Rubio bill to study societal forces on Black men
The Republican-controlled U.S. Senate and Democratic-controlled U.S. House haven’t been able to pass a bill to change policing practices in response to nationwide protests after George Floyd’s death, but a more limited piece of legislation sponsored by Miami Democratic Rep. Frederica Wilson and Republican Sen. Marco Rubio was approved by Congress on Monday and heads to President Donald Trump’s desk for him to sign into law.
The House of Representatives passed the Commission on the Social Status of Black Men and Boys Act, a bill written by Wilson that orders the establishment of a commission as part of the Department of Justice that would study societal forces that have disproportionately affected Black men in America. The commission will study issues like mortality and homicide rates, arrest and incarceration rates, poverty, violence, fatherhood, mentorship, drug abuse, disparate income and wealth levels, school performance at various grade levels, and health.
“I am elated that this legislation, which I have been fighting for several years to pass, is now poised to become national law,” Wilson said in a statement. “The commission will review police brutality, gun violence, fatherhood, recruiting and training black male teachers, and even sneakers, which play an important role in the lives of Black boys. Welfare reform and the 1994 crime bill, which includes the controversial three strikes provision and harsh sentencing guidelines, also will be revisited. The commission’s underlying goal is to interrupt the school-to-prison pipeline and to better understand and eventually eliminate the educational and social chasms that have made it extraordinarily difficult for Black males to become upwardly mobile.”