Our view: Floyd laid to rest, but America must keep fighting

In the three decades since the beating of black motorist Rodney King — the first proof of unequal police treatment captured on video and blasted across the country — police departments have remained all too powerful, racially biased and virtually unchecked, despite attempts at reform.

In 1992, Americans reacted to the verdict (the cops were acquitted on nearly all charges) and brutalization primarily along color lines. African Americans in Los Angeles rioted. Many white Americans were baffled by the anger. King came forward and wondered whether we could “all get along.”

Shamefully, in the nearly 30 years since, the nation’s stockpile of police brutality footage has drastically grown. But the public reaction has come closer to King’s call. People of all ethnic backgrounds protested last month’s killing of unarmed black man George Floyd. The cellphone footage was brutal. Floyd screamed for his mother while Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin ground his knee into Floyd’s neck.

After Floyd’s death, nearly 60% of Americans say cops are more likely to use force against African Americans. That recognition, long obvious to black America, has finally gone mainstream.

The shift in attitude was long overdue, as are the policy changes that Congress must enact to finally put an end to the disproportionate killing and brutalization of black men.

Lawmakers should start with basics — some of which Democrats have proposed in their Justice in Policing Act:

❚ Set strong national use-of-force standards. The chokehold Chauvin used on Floyd was part of Minneapolis Police Department policy, even though other law enforcement departments had banned it. National standards should, at the least, ban chokeholds. Mandatory deescalation and implicit bias training should also be included, with real consequences for failing.

❚ End qualified immunity. Police officers, who are charged with enforcing the law and empowered with deadly force to do it, should be held to a higher standard than the public when it comes to following that law. Qualified immunity allows for just the opposite — shielding cops from responsibility for violations. If criminal courts fail to hold abusive police accountable, victims should have access to civil courts.

❚ End civil asset forfeiture without criminal charges. Intended primarily for use against drug dealers and organized crime, the program has been abused nationwide to strip minorities of homes, cars and cash without bringing criminal charges against them.

❚ End no-knock warrants. Two months before Floyd’s death, Breonna Taylor’s body was riddled with bullets by police officers who erroneously entered her home using a no-knock warrant. Her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, thought he was standing his ground against an intruder when he fired the first shot. Officers had not identified themselves, according to reports.

❚ End special rights for officers accused of on-the-job misconduct. Police unions protect too many officers after clear violations of their duty. Chauvin, for example, had at least 18 complaints filed against him. Officers accused of criminal conduct should be treated like other criminal suspects, and unions should no longer be able to negotiate terms for the discipline of law enforcement officers who abuse the public.

Department of Justice consent decrees aren’t enough. The Obama administration issued multiple decrees, most notably in Ferguson, Missouri, where unarmed black teen Michael Brown had been shot dead by a white officer. But the DOJ had to file a lawsuit to force the town to follow through.

Such decrees are too easily reversed. President Donald Trump loosened the requirements for such agreements, undoing much of the work the Obama administration had put in place.

And the piecemeal approach, which started with a decree covering the Los Angeles police force after the Rodney King riots, has not worked. Nationwide standards are badly needed. Legislation should leave no wiggle room for law enforcement agencies.

Between international shouts of “black lives matter” and videos describing George Floyd as a “gentle giant” and detailing his life goal to change the world, African Americans are finally being shown not just as violent perps or faceless victims, but as three-dimensional human beings worthy of advocacy. The switch, however late, is palpable.

It is insulting to America’s black community that 30 years of video evidence was needed as a catalyst for change.

Nonetheless, decades of police brutality videos make plain a community’s suffering. Congress, it’s well past time to heed policing protests and force departments to change.

Floyd’s body has been laid to rest, but the movement to end police brutality must finally achieve strong national action.