US President Joe Biden on first death anniversary of George Floyd
Washington DC: On the first death anniversary of George Floyd, US President Joe Biden has asked the country`s legislators to expedite the “George Floyd Justice in Policing Act”, a police reform bill brought in to raise the accountability of law enforcement officers.
“The negotiations on the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act in Congress are ongoing. I have strongly supported the legislation that passed the House, and I appreciate the good-faith efforts from Democrats and Republicans to pass a meaningful bill out of the Senate. It`s my hope they will get a bill to my desk quickly,” Biden said in a statement on Tuesday.
“We have to act. We face an inflection point. The battle for the soul of America has been a constant push and pull between the American ideal that we`re all created equal and the harsh reality that racism has long torn us apart,” he added.
The US President also pointed out that the Floyd-led protest unified people of every race and generation against unlawful killings. Floyd, a 46-year-old African American man, died on May 25, last year after a police officer placed his knee on Floyd`s neck for eight minutes despite pleas that he could not breathe.
A video captured the incident, which sparked a wave of protests across the country. In April this year, the former officer was found guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter potentially facing up to 75 years in jail.
