Biden: "We have all seen the knee of injustice on the neck of Black America"
29 April 2021
President Biden in a joint address to Congress on Wednesday urged the Senate to pass a policing bill named for George Floyd, the Black man whose murder in Minneapolis last year led to nationwide protests against police brutality.
What he's saying: "We have all seen the knee of injustice on the neck of Black America," Biden said. "Now is our opportunity to make real progress."
- "It was nearly a year ago before her father’s funeral, when I spoke with Gianna Floyd, George Floyd’s young daughter," Biden said.
- "As I knelt down to talk to her so we could talk eye—to—eye, she said to me,'Daddy changed the world,'" the president added.
- "After the conviction of George Floyd’s murderer, we can see how right she was — if we have the courage to act."
"My fellow Americans, we have to come together. To rebuild trust between law enforcement and the people they serve. To root out systemic racism in our criminal justice system. And to enact police reform in George Floyd’s name that passed the House already."
- "I know the Republicans have their own ideas and are engaged in productive discussions with Democrats. We need to work together to find a consensus," Biden continued. "Let’s get it done next month, by the first anniversary of George Floyd’s death."
The big picture: The House-passed bill overhauls qualified immunity for police officers, bans chokeholds at the federal level, prohibits no-knock warrants in federal drug cases and outlaws racial profiling, Axios's Shawna Chen reports.
- It would also establish a national registry of police misconduct to be managed by the Department of Justice.
Go deeper: Biden calls Chauvin verdict a "giant step towards justice"
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.