Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., said on the anniversary of George Floyd’s death that convicting Derek Chauvin “isn’t enough.”
“On the anniversary of his death, I want to remind all of us that we’re still searching for justice for George Floyd,” Omar wrote on Twitter. “Convicting his killer isn’t enough. True justice can only come from dismantling the systems that allowed him to die.”
“We are still fighting to remake our criminal justice system – and especially the people who enforce it. But I see a future where no one has to fear police violence. A future where everyone is safe.”
George Floyd died on May 25, 2020 after Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck as he arrested him.
The congresswoman has called the Minneapolis Police Department “rotten to its root” and impossible to reform.
“What we are saying is the current infrastructure that exists as policing in our city should not exist anymore and we can’t go about creating a different process with the same infrastructure in place,” Omar said on CNN’s State of the Union last June.
A bill Omar reintroduced weeks ago would instead create a federal agency to independently investigate police killings and in-custody deaths.
The eight-member board would be appointed by the president to carry out investigations into police use of force and issue findings and determinations of responsibility.
Under Omar’s bill, if police departments don’t follow through on the board’s recommendations, their federal funding could be cut.
On Tuesday, House Democrats renewed calls for Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing act, which would overhaul standards for police tactics and conduct at the federal level. Prominent measures include a federal ban on no-knock warrants and chokeholds, limits on qualified immunity shielding police from civil lawsuits, a framework to prevent racial profiling, and the establishment of a national registry on allegations of police misconduct.
In the Senate, Corey Booker, D-N.J., and Tim Scott, R-S.C., are leading negotiations for a bipartisan police reform bill. On Tuesday, Floyd’s family met with the pair of senators on Capitol Hill, as well as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., and with President Biden and Vice President Harris at the White House. The family, accompanied by attorney Benjamin Crump, called for “bipartisan” reform.
*story by Fox News
