House Passes George Floyd Justice in Policing Act To Reform Law Enforcement

Let’s hope it sticks this time…

Source: NurPhoto / Getty

Hopefully, the second time’s a charm and we don’t even have to see a third time. Yesterday, the House passed The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act that aims to hold Amerikkka’s law enforcement officers accountable for their violent mistreatment of all citizens, specifically, Black ones. According to NBC News, the bill passed with a vote of 220-212 with one Republican member, Rep. Lance Gooden of Texas, saying he voted “yes” accidentally then changed his vote to no. No shock there.

The bill acts as a toolkit for district attorneys and the system at large to set federal guidelines on tactics and behaviors that are not acceptable. It bans neck restraints, no-knock warrants during federal drug cases, and brings reform to qualified immunity that prevents many offending officers from being personally sued for civil rights infractions.

We mentioned “second time” earlier because this very bill was passed by the house last year and it essentially died on the vine in the Senate because the dastardly Mitch McConnell refused to take it up for a vote. Now that the Democrats control the Senate (thank you, Georgia!), there will be a more fair process to see this act signed into law.

Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., who introduced the bill, said she is confident that House members will be able to work with the Senate to get it passed. She said that after the last bill passed, “many of our Republican colleagues said they thought they could get to yes on this, but they had some difficulties.”

Rep. Bass went on to say:

“One of the things that has happened in the last 12 months, though, is that many states moved ahead without us, and they started passing reforms,” Bass said. “So, this time, when we sit down to meet, we can talk about reforms that are already in place.”

We won’t hold our breath because if we know anything to be true it’s that Republicans don’t give a good gotdamn about preventing police from whoopin’ our Black a$$es or killing us.

It’s time for the Democratic party to show and prove.