Congress hears emotional testimony on police practices

The brother of George Floyd, the African American man whose death while in police custody May 25 sparked worldwide protests, called on Congress members on Wednesday to make sure that his big brother did not die in vain.

Also at the House hearing on "policing practices and law enforcement accountability" Wednesday, a Republican witness whose brother, Dave Patrick Underwood, a federal law enforcement officer, was slain during unrest last month, made an urgent plea that her brother's death not be in vain.

The hearing, held a day after Floyd's burial, was an emotional and soul-searching session that sought to address racial injustice and policy brutality. But it also reflected the divisions between those supporting sweeping police reforms and those defending assertive police practices.

"I'm here today to ask you to make it stop. Stop the pain. Stop us from being tired," the younger Floyd told the House Judiciary Committee, after committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler said at the opening that the nation "demands and deserves meaningful change".

On May 25, George Floyd was pinned to the ground by a white Minneapolis police officer who put a knee on Floyd's neck for almost nine minutes as the 46-year-old unarmed black man pleaded "I can't breathe".

"George's calls for help were ignored. Please listen to the call I'm making to you now, to the calls of our family, and to the calls ringing out in the streets across the world," said Philonise Floyd, 42. "People of all backgrounds, genders and race have come together to demand change.

"If his death ends up changing the world for the better, and I think it will, then he died as he lived. It is on you to make sure his death isn't in vain," he said.

About 15 minutes after Floyd spoke, Angela Underwood Jacobs, who sat at another witness table, also made an emotionally charged statement.

Jacobs was one of several witnesses called by Republicans to attend the Democratic-led House hearing. Her brother, a Federal Protective Service officer, was shot and killed while on duty in Oakland, California, on May 29, amid protests over the death of George Floyd.

After extending her condolences to Floyd's brother, Jacobs said, "Police brutality of any kind must not be condoned. However, it is blatantly wrong to create an excuse out of discrimination and disparity to loot and burn our communities, to kill our officers of the law."

Recalling her 53-year-old brother as a good and caring person, Jacobs pleaded at the hearing, "Please, do not let my brother Patrick's name go in vain."

On Monday, congressional Democrats introduced legislation that would ban chokeholds, prohibit racial profiling, allow victims of misconduct to sue police for damages and eliminate the "qualified immunity" for both police and correctional officers.

Democratic Congresswoman Karen Bass, who led the drafting of the Justice in Policing Act of 2020, said Floyd's death was not just a tragedy for the US, but an embarrassment for the nation in front of the entire world.

"While we hold up human rights in the world, we have to hold them up in our country," she said at the hearing.

"If this had been a law last year, George Floyd would be alive because chokeholds would be banned," Bass said.

The legislation could arrive at the House by July 4, but it's unclear if it will have bipartisan support.

Senate Republicans are working on rival legislation, which touches on many of the same areas but emphasizes data collection rather than changes in laws and policies in key areas, Reuters reported.

Also Wednesday, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz called a special legislative session to address curbing police abuses and pandemic-related economic pain in his state.

"When the Legislature reconvenes on Friday, we plan to work together to pass police reform and accountability and build a stronger and more equitable economy," Walz tweeted.