On Monday members of the Congressional Black Caucus, along with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, unveiled a sweeping reform bill aimed at overhauling policing in the United States.
The bill titled, “Justice in Policing Act,” would ban chokeholds, much like the one used on George Floyd and Eric Garner, resulting in his death and would also bar no-knock warrants which led to the death of Breonna Taylor, who was senselessly shot eight times after officers broke into her apartment looking for narcotics, NBC News reports.
At a time when racial tensions are at a high and protests continue due to the back-to-back murders of Floyd, Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, as well as the horrific deaths and assaults in the Black trans community of Nina Pop, Tony McDade and Iyanna Dior, congressional leaders are finally heading the call of the very people who voted them into office.
The bill was co-written by Congressional Black Caucus Chairwoman Karen Bass, (D-CA) House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, (D-NY), and Sens. Kamala Harris, (D-CA) and Cory Booker, (D-NJ), both who recently ended their bids for president in the 2020 race.
“The martyrdom of George Floyd gave the American experience a moment of national anguish as we grieve for the black Americans killed by police brutality today,” Pelosi said during Monday’s press conference.