Democrats in the US Congress knelt on Monday to observe 8 minutes and 46 minutes of silence in tribute to George Floyd and other black Americans “who have lost their lives unjustly”, before unveiling a proposal for police reform.
The Democratic president of the Congress, Nancy Pelosi, the leader of the Senate democratic minority, Chuck Schumer, as well as about twenty parliamentarians, including several black American elected representatives, were gathered in the “Hall of Emancipation”, named in homage to slaves who worked on the construction of its headquarters in Washington, the Capitol, in the 18th century.
8 minutes 46: this is the time spent by a white policeman with his knee resting on the neck of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American, until he suffocated and killed him on May 25 during his arrest. An event that caused a historic wave of anger in the United States.
George Floyd was arrested on May 25 in Minneapolis because police, alerted by a merchant, suspected him of having wanted to forge a counterfeit 20-dollar bill.
Nancy Pelosi, accompanied by members of the “Congressional Black Caucus”, the parliamentary group of African American elected officials, as well as other senior Congressional officials, must then introduce a bill to “end police brutality, force police to account, improve transparency, and create far-reaching, structural change that protects the right of all Americans to security and fair justice. “
The Justice and Policing Act which will be presented to the two chambers intends, among other things, to create a national register for police officers committing blunders, to make it easier to prosecute officers, to rethink their recruitment and training.
His future in the Senate, with a Republican majority, remains uncertain.
President Donald Trump running for a second term has accused his opponent Joe Biden and the Democrats of wanting to “cut the police supplies”. He argued for “efficient and well paid law enforcement.”
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