This week marked two years since the murder of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer.
“We’re happy that President Biden is doing what he can to take action. Unfortunately, no, it is not enough. What we really need is for Congress to be legislating to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, and to pass laws that would end qualified immunity and that allowed the police to basically act with impunity in these matters,” said Marie Ndiaye, deputy director of the Justice Project at the Advancement Project, a national civil rights organization.
“At the end of the day, it’s important for the president to speak out, that is historic, but unless something is done on the local level to influence local police departments, that’s where all the crimes are taking place by police against community members, until we actually focus on that and address that there can’t be any real change that can you can really feel,” said Todd Belcore, co-founder and executive director of the nonprofit Social Change.
“I think it’s important to note that qualified immunity is not something that has worked its way through any legislature, has not gone through Congress. This was a decision by the Supreme Court in 1967. The qualified immunity is a doctrine that is used to shield government officials, in this case, particularly police officers from legal liability,” said Anthony Driver of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.