Black lawmakers revive calls for justice for victims of police violence after Chauvin verdict

 (AP)
(AP)

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus revived their calls for justice for the victims of police violence and urged passage of sweeping police reform legislation backed by the White House following Derek Chauvin’s guilty verdicts for the killing of George Floyd.

“This is just the first step,” said Caucus chair Joyce Beatty, surrounded by lawmakers at the Capitol on Tuesday.

“We know clearly that justice has been delayed,” she said. “We will continue to say all of the names, we will fight continuously for all of those who died and who were injured senselessly by law enforcement … The mothers, the families, the children who are shedding tears today because the verdict will not bring back their family members.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who also stood with lawmakers on Tuesday afternoon following the verdict, said she spoke with Mr Floyd’s family to say “Thank you, God bless you, for your grace and your dignity”.

“They are in search of justice then, and now they see this giant step. But as my colleagues have said, it is not over,” she said. “Thank God the jury validated what we saw.”

Now-former Minneapolis police officer Chauvin was found guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. He could face up to 40 years in prison.

The verdict followed three weeks of testimony and nine hours of deliberation nearly one year after Mr Floyd’s death on 25 May, 2020, captured in painful video and galvanising an international protest movement to hold police accountable for the killings of Black people

A 12-person jury heard from 45 witnesses in total, including 38 from the prosecution and seven the defence.

Of the 12 jurors, six are white, four are Black and two are multiracial.

Hennepin County medical examiner Dr Andrew Baker, who performed the official autopsy, testified that “law enforcement subdual, restraint and the neck compression” were the main causes of his death, compounded by existing heart conditions and drug use.

US Rep Cori Bush – a freshman congresswoman and Black Lives Matter organiser – said Tuesday’s verdict “is the popping of the lock” to “open the door and save lives” from police violence.

“We can call it murder now,” she said. “This was accountability but it was not justice. Justice for us is saving lives.”

Joe Biden’s administration supports the passage of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act – which could face stiff opposition from Republicans in the Senate.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters last week that “the president’s view is that there are necessary outdated reforms that should be put in place, that there is accountability that needs to happen, that the loss of life is far too high, that these families are suffering around the country, that the Black community is exhausted from the ongoing threats they feel”.

The House of Representatives passed a version of the George Floyd bill last month without any Republican support on a vote of 220 to 212. A similar bill was passed in 2020 but languished in a then-GOP-controlled Senate.

Legislation would aim to overhaul “qualified immunity” policies, change the threshold for permitting use of force, prohibit police chokeholds at the federal level, ban no-knock warrants in federal drug cases, and create a national registry of police misconduct cases under the auspices of the Justice Department, among other reforms. It does not “defund” police departments.

Lawmakers are mulling bipartisan compromise legislation in the Senate, where it will need 60 votes to pass. Democrats hold 50 seats.

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