"I am here to ask you to put an end to the suffering, to put an end to our exhaustion". The day after the burial of George Floyd, who was killed on May 25 in Minneapolis by a white police officer, his brother Philonise Floyd was interviewed by the judicial committee of the House of Representatives, with a majority of Democrats.

Before Congress, on Wednesday June 10, the latter launched a vibrant appeal, imploring elected officials to "put an end to the suffering" of African-Americans and to adopt significant reforms of the police force.

Very moved, he explained "not being able to describe the pain" felt by watching the video of his brother's ordeal, asphyxiated by agent Derek Chauvin who remained kneeling on his neck for almost nine minutes.

"Lethal force should only be applied when a life is at stake"

Please listen to my call, listen to the calls from my family, the calls that are coming up from the streets all over the world, "he added in reference to the demonstrations that followed the drama, the most important since the civil rights movement in the 1960s.

"Honor them and adopt the reforms necessary to ensure that the police are the solution and not the problem," said the forty-something. 

"Make them accountable when they do wrong, teach them to treat people with empathy and respect and teach them that lethal force should only be applied when a life is at stake", a- he listed.

"The nation demands that we act"

Carried out alongside representatives of the police and civil society, its hearing was organized to support a bill presented earlier this week by elected Democrats, which aims to "change the culture" within the police of the United States. United.

"We cannot turn a blind eye to the racism and injustice that permeates our police force too much," said Jerry Nadler, the commission chief, opening the meeting. "The nation demands that we act to achieve meaningful change."

Since the death of George Floyd, the police have been on the hot seat. Crowds of demonstrators took to the streets of the country - and even on other continents - to demand justice and deep reforms within the approximately 18,000 police services that coexist in this highly decentralized country (municipal police, county sheriffs , state patrol ...).

At the cry of "Black Lives Matter", they denounced the "police brutality" which disproportionately targets African-Americans. In fact, nearly a quarter of a thousand people killed by police in 2019 were black, yet they make up just 13% of the U.S. population.

The protesters also want to end the broad immunity enjoyed by the police. In the past 15 years, only 110 officers have been charged with the murder of a suspect.

In this case, it took several days for Derek Chauvin to be charged with "murder" and his three colleagues involved in the drama of "complicity". 

National register for police officers committing blunders

Faced with the anger of the street, some agencies have already announced first measures. In Houston, for example, police will abandon the controversial practice of "choking" when arresting suspects; that of Minneapolis will be dismantled to be flattened; that of Washington, it will no longer make room for unions in disciplinary procedures.

At the federal level, the "Justice and Policing Act", supported by more than 200 elected Democrats, also intends to create a national register for police officers committing blunders, in order to facilitate legal proceedings against officers and to rethink their recruitment and training. 

But the future of this text is however very compromised in the Senate, with a Republican majority.  

Faced with this unprecedented mobilization since the civil rights movement in the 1960s, the majority leader in the upper house, Mitch McConnell, nevertheless announced on Tuesday that he was charging the only black Republican senator, Tim Scott, to reflect for the President's party on this subject.

After denouncing a "sad and tragic" death, Donald Trump, who is campaigning for his re-election, emphasized a security speech, emphasizing the violence committed on the margins of the protests.

With AFP

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