Despite mass protests throughout the United States following the May 25th, 2020, murder of George Floyd during an arrest and months of work by a bipartisan group of legislators, the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021 failed. The bill called for comprehensive reforms, including banning racial, religious, and other discriminatory profiling, banning chokeholds and carotid holds at the federal level and no-knock warrants for federal drug cases and conditioning funding for local and state police departments based on their policies regarding these practices.
The bill also called for all uniformed officers to wear body cameras and made it easier to hold police officers accountable for misconduct through the courts. Although the federal bill did not pass, several local and state police departments have begun to change their policies and practices. In addition, the Department of Justice will open investigations into several police departments and will guarantee that grant funding will be given to programs that comply with provisions of the Civil Rights Act.
Just as George Floyd in his last moments called to his mother, we can call out to Mary to join our prayers and actions to reform the justice system.
