US senators on Wednesday, September 22 ended negotiations on a police reform project initiated after the death of African-American George Floyd, a decision that risks being fatal to the text and represents a hard setback for Joe Biden. Despite months of discussions, “we failed to agree on a strategyDemocrat Senator Cory Booker told reporters as he announced the end of negotiations with his Republican colleagues.
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The Democratic president, elected with the support of black voters and who had made this reform one of his priorities, blamed the failure of the negotiations on the Republicans. “Regrettably, Republican senators rejected modest reforms, which even the former president (Donald Trump, note) had supported, while refusing to act on key points that even the police were ready to to discuss“, He criticized in a press release.
«Deep disappointment»
The Republicans kicked the ball back to him. “After months of progress, I am very disappointed that Democrats have wasted this opportunity to make our neighborhoods safer and improve relations between law enforcement and communities of color.Said Senator Tim Scott. Beyond these passes, bitterness was the order of the day among the supporters of the reforms.
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«We express our deep disappointment at the inability of Senate leaders to find a reasonable solution for federal police reform.Commented lawyer Ben Crump, who represents the Floyd family and many victims of police violence. “After an unprecedented year (…), police unions and partisan politicians have chosen to stand on the wrong side of history“, Judged, bitter, the president of the civil rights organization NAACP Derrick Johnson.
The murder of George Floyd, suffocated by a white police officer on May 25, 2020 in Minneapolis, had sparked a huge mobilization across the United States against racism and police violence. In response, the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives adopted in March a police reform bill named after the black forty-something, which attacked in particular the broad judicial immunity enjoyed by agents.
Choke sockets
The text also provided for prohibiting strangulation, limiting transfers of military equipment to law enforcement, creating a national register of police officers dismissed for abuse, etc. But the Democrats had to convince a dozen elected Republicans to pass the obstacle of the Senate. Anxious not to appear as the gravediggers of a reform eagerly awaited by the African-American minority, the Republicans had entrusted their only black elected representative of the Senate, Tim Scott, with the task of negotiating a consensual text.
On several occasions, President Joe Biden had called on elected officials to show “courage” to achieve. Despite their failures, he hoped “one day sign an ambitious and comprehensive reform of the police that honors the name and memory of George Floyd“. Waiting for, “the White House will continue its consultationsAnd think about what his government can do by decree.
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