Here we are, nearly a year and a half post uprisings, and lawmakers have decided that social media and symbolic solidarity are all that was required to meet the moment. It would be too generous to say that the demands of Black organizers have been ignored. We know, in fact, that they have been either undermined and dismissed out of hand.
News came down on Wednesday, September 22, that “sweeping bi-partisan police reform” would not pass the Senate after months of negotiations. The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2020 would ban chokeholds and no-knock warrants at the federal level, limit the transfer of military-grade weapons to local law enforcement, and require federal police officers to wear body cameras, among a host of other liberal police reforms. The bill would also give more money to police to establish “best practices and training requirements,” and it would increase cops’ ability to investigate themselves.
Read more at Next City.