National Urban League CEO and former New Orleans Mayor, Marc Morial, has welcomed DOJ decision to ban police use of chokeholds, stressing at the same time Black people deserve more to be done to curb police violence against them.
One of the measures he mentioned in that context is the passage of the George Floyd Act that has been has been stalled in Congress though media reports suggested on Thursday it could see movement soon.
Morial said that chokehold ban is an important and necessary step to mitigate the alarming and unnecessary increase of police violence against minorities which has seen 1,000 police killings per year, including 935 in 2021.
He underlined that police officers have caused for far too long inexplicable tragedies and atrocities in communities they police with little or no accountability at all.
The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act was introduced shortly after a white police officer in Minnesota, Derek Chauvin, killed Floyd, a 46-year-old black man. Chauvin has been convicted of murder later and sentenced to over 20 years in prison.
If passed, the George Floyd Act would limit the transfer of military-grade equipment to state and local law enforcement. It envisages police departments to use existing federal funds to purchase body cameras.
The legislation would also facilitate holding police accountable in court and to investigate police misconduct.
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