National Black Justice Coalition Celebrates Passage of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act in the U.S. House of Representatives, Urges Senate to Pass Without Delay
Group Says Bill is Critical to Ensuring Justice is Served Fairly and Equally
CONTACT: Brett Abrams | brett@unbendablemedia.com
WASHINGTON, DC — Late tonight, the US House of Representatives passed the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act which will prohibit racial profiling at every level of law enforcement; chokeholds, carotid holds and no-knock warrants would be banned at the federal level; qualified immunity for officers would be overhauled and a national police misconduct registry would be created so officers who were fired for such discretions could not be hired by another police department. Although the bill would not technically mandate the prohibition of certain reforms such as chokeholds at a state and local level, it would tie in the new federal standards as thresholds for police departments to meet if they wanted to continue receiving federal aid. The bill would also create public safety innovation grants for community based organizations to create local conditions and task forces to reimagine and develop concrete, just and equitable public safety approaches.
In response to the House’s passage of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, David J. Johns, Executive Director of the National Black Justice Coalition, a leading civil rights organization dedicated to the empowerment of Black Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer+ and same-gender-loving (LGBTQ+/SGL) people, issued the following statement:
“We applaud the House for recognizing that until all people in this country, including police officers, are treated the same under the law we have an unjust and inequitable nation.
“The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act puts critical protections and prohibitions in place to ensure the people we pay to serve us do not become our murderers. It is past time that we re-envision public safety in this country to care for all of us and not only those who don’t know the sting of stigmatization.
“The bill as presented in the House is a great first move, but to truly be a beacon of hope for Black lives that too often don’t seem to matter in the eyes of our government – the U.S. Senate will need to make amendments that strengthen these protections even more. We want to ensure that the bill covers biases in policing that impact all of us including Black trans men like Tony McDade who was gunned down by a Jacksonville police officer shortly after George Floyd was choked to death.
“Our lawmakers can do more and must do more.
“The National Black Justice Coalition will continue to advocate for the strongest bill possible to protect ALL Black Lives from the disease of racial and LGBTQ+ bias, bigotry, and prejudice allowed to spread like COVID throughout law enforcement agencies across the country.”