Minnesota's AG 5 years after George Floyd's murder
Five years after the murder of George Floyd by police officer Derek Chauvin who knelt on his neck for nine minutes, some advocates for police reform are feeling discouraged.
Despite worldwide protests that followed Floyd’s murder, US Congress never passed legislation aimed at reducing racial profiling and the use of force by police.
“To say that nothing's changed is not true, but I have to give a little bit of deference to people who are not very encouraged by the rate of change, because the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act has not passed through Congress," said Keith Ellison, Minnesota Attorney General.
REUTERS / HENNEPIN COUNTY COURT / US NETWORK POOL / MINNESOTA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS HANDOUT VIDEO
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00:43And so, to say that nothing's changed is not true.
00:47But I have to give a little bit of deference to people who are not very encouraged by the
00:54rate of change, because the George Floyd Justice and Policing Act has not passed through Congress.
00:59We did have a DOJ two-year investigation, which found a pattern and practice of racial discrimination
01:07against Black and Native American people in Minneapolis, plus violations of people's First Amendment rights.
01:14And within, you know, within a few minutes, the Department of Justice wants to move to dismiss it.
01:20So that's bad.
01:23We got people who are in the national police scene who are for reform.
01:27And there are officers, some are Black, some are White, some are Latinos, some are different backgrounds.
01:32But they all know that that trust is the key to a safer community.
01:37And they're not going to stop, no matter what Trump does.
01:39So that's the future that I see.
01:41We are in a tough spot.
01:43No denying that.
01:44But we can get it.
01:46We can get on the road to meaningful reform.
01:49We can save lives.
01:50We can protect people's constitutional rights.
01:52But we've got to be serious about it.
01:54And we've got to understand that there is a meaningful societal cost when you have a pattern of excessive force in a community.
02:06We're trying to break that mold because we know there's a lot of people on the Minneapolis Police Department who are good, decent, and are committed to protecting the neighborhood.
02:16But their reputation gets damaged by a Derek Chauvin.
02:19And now a Donald Trump who would not even allow the Justice Department to continue to work constructively with the city of Minneapolis.
02:29Well, when it comes to George Floyd five years later, you know, let's not forget that at the state of Minnesota, we banned chokeholds.
02:38We banned no-knock warrants.
02:40We put real teeth into the police officers' standards and training board, which is the one that supervises all police in our state.
02:48A good relationship between police and community is essential to have a safe community.
02:54When Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd, yes, he took George Floyd's life, but he also destroyed the trust.
03:24reputation for the streets in our accomplice.
03:28But again, we couldn't trade the truth to those who have all the cowardice and other people watching guard,
03:34and that our relationship between police and police department 찾 fic sought here who could quá away from roaming 아까 with a number of people.
03:38But by that, I'm going to describe it to George Floyd 님 as a policeman foraging a firefight.
