George Floyd's Family Calls on Congress to Pass Police Reform

Philonise, George Floyd's brother, and other family members speak to the press at the White House on Tuesday.Evan Vucci / AP

US President Joe Biden received George Floyd's family at the White House on Tuesday on the first anniversary of the African-American's death at the hands of a white policeman in Minneapolis. During the meeting, held behind closed doors, Floyd's relatives addressed the brutality that African-Americans are subjected to on many occasions, the racism that plagues the country and the bill to reform the police that Congress is discussing, baptized with the name of the racial movement icon. So far, Republicans have refused to pass the regulation, mainly because of the Democratic proposal to eliminate so-called qualified immunity, a federal doctrine that protects police officers from some lawsuits.

A dozen family members, friends and attorneys of George Floyd's close associates met with the president and vice president, Kamala Harris, for more than an hour.

After finishing the meeting, they urged the approval of the police reform that Congress is discussing.

"President Biden told us that he prefers a correct law to a fast law," said lawyer Ben Camper, adding that they will meet this afternoon with a group of legislators to discuss the regulations under discussion.

"If they can make federal laws to protect a national bird, which is the bald eagle, they can make federal laws to protect blacks," said Philonise Floyd, brother of the deceased.

More information

• Divisions Shake Black Lives Matter

• One year after George Floyd's death: stranded police reform and a spike in violence

Negotiations on the George Floyd Police Justice Act in Congress are ongoing. I have strongly supported the legislation passed in the House of Representatives and I appreciate the good faith efforts of Democrats and Republicans to pass a meaningful Senate bill. I hope I get the law on my desk quickly, ”Biden said in a statement.

Biden recalled shortly before the Twitter encounter that the murder conviction of former police officer Derek Chauvin was a step towards justice. “But we cannot stop there. We are facing a turning point. We have to act, ”he added. The Democratic president failed to fulfill his desire to commemorate the anniversary with the most ambitious reform of the police system in recent decades already approved. The text, now stuck in the Senate, seeks to improve police accountability and combat racial bias. The regulations include banning the neck restraint technique - Chauvin's knee squeezed Floyd's for nine minutes - and creating a national police misconduct registry, among other measures.

Before visiting the White House, Floyd's relatives went to the Capitol to meet with the Democratic leader of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, and the Democratic Congresswoman Karen Bass, one of the leaders of the bipartisan and bicameral negotiations to reach a agreement on the police reform law.

“It will be approved in a bipartisan manner.

And that's a personal commitment that I have to the family, ”Bass said.

Change the world

Those who came this Tuesday morning to the place in Minneapolis where Floyd claimed that he could not breathe until he vanished under Chauvin's knee heard about thirty shots. The passers-by, about twenty, ran, ducked and covered their heads as shots rang out. Minneapolis police reported a gunshot wound from a shooting near George Floyd Square where, after the incident, activities continued in honor of one of the main faces of the strengthened Black Lives Matter movement.

"Daddy changed the world" was one of the phrases that marked the first year of Floyd's death. It was said in June of last year by her daughter Gianna as she watched a demonstration in Minneapolis in amazement. Cities like Los Angeles or Baltimore cut the budget of the police to allocate that money to social programs for the black community. Minneapolis prohibits the use of neck restraint techniques. "It has progressed slowly," Philonise Floyd said on CNN on Monday.

The death of George Floyd not only plunged the country into a debate about systematic racism, it also sparked revisionism of the symbols of the civil war.

The Mississippi flag no longer bears Confederate symbols and the iconic statue of General Robert E. Lee has been removed from Richmond, Virginia, as have several monuments to Confederate leaders who fought in the Civil War.

The Washington Redskins football team is no longer called that and the Cleveland Indians baseball franchise announced that it will change its name to be offensive to Native Americans.

"The name is no longer acceptable in our world," explained the owner.

A world without Gianna's father.

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