Killings of other americans names are now known for theched come awfully i in which they died. Eric garner, Michael Brown so some others whose names we do not know, all part of a n system thas not refls not the high side use o in fac it reflects the darkness of our past our president reflects racism and equal justice under the law. We aret in American History that is theca crossroads,mericans all 50 states, are engaging in some types of action of protest whether its on social media platforms or in the middle of the pandemic out in the streets. And the choice we have right now before us as this face of americans of all lot of folks want to reduce the approaches that are coming a democratic approach. Ill tell you right now this is not a choice between one side of an aisle or another. It is a choice between meaningful reforms in this moment are making symbolic gestures that will do nothing to save peoples lives. Its a choice between actio are proposing is not new. These are reforms that have been put in place in s some states this is a real effort to hold policing and america accountable for egregious behavior. It will create transparency a sunlight is the best disinfec bring about an end to policies and pshould be ended in our that was called for by president bush and his first address tond into r fact, some of the more socalled controversial elements ofhis bill by qualiats on both sides of hour folks from the cato institute, from clarenc use conservative organizations after conservative organization say theco obvious that no one should be selded from accountability when they are violating the civil rights of another american. We have a bill that calls will protect lives and practices that have killed americans, creator accoun and transparency in departments and make sure that no one in our country is above the law. This is not a time for half steps and half measures. It is not a time tw nibble around the edges. Its not a time to find the lowest common denominator. Its not a time where so manyneed on t for to pull our knee happened off the neck and call progress. No. This is time for us to do what is right and necessary to end the kind of violence and murder murder and unaccountability we see that is to endemic in our nation. And so this is of the will congress will one day get this right. The provisions injustice policing act im confident that when the inli this country will ban rel profiling or im confident one day in this country we will ban chokehold. Im confident that wendy in this country we National Registry of Police Misconduct, af force tone day no one who murdersnt of cameras will be shielded from accountability on the federal level in our civil courts are in our criminal courts are impossible standards to me. It is clear that one day we shall overcome what is now injustice. That this body will do the right thing. There will be a time in america were Mental Health issues will be treated with healthcare and not police and prisons. There will be a time in america thatiction will be treated treatment and not police and prisons. There will be a time in america that the fragile within our society will not be further hurt and harmed by practices and prisons that would cared for. I know this tim is i believe justice denied. If we do not act and claim this nt this time, then we as a country are going to find ourselves again. In my short life i have seen decades of this. I was born right after the corner report calling out these practices demandingeforms. In that time i watched rodney king beating and officers who did it ber held unaccountable for their actions. This cycle is continuing in our country every day. There are so many cases that we dont see because we dont have transparency. We know is wrong but we have not takenhe the measures to stop it. Now ist the time that we must act and not findrom now id hear from now, three years from now awful cycle put over and over again. Listen to the American People, all 50 states, all backgrounds together in a course of conviction to put a this nightmare. Theime, no half measures no half steps no diluted towards what should be done but not having the courage to boldly go in the direction that when they will pass but i believe one day should becongress should act im sohis position. Im so proud that there are others i this body that are joining with me with the same sense of urgency to get broadbased reform done. And i see my colleague from oregon one of theus body and im grateful now to yield to him. Madam president . Is recognized madam president im honored tod join with is and some of my colleagues this moment of National Outcry entered into an opportunity, a moment of national action. Weeks now in protests across our land millions of fellow americans have been rising up in speaking out to demand justice accountability opportunity and above all the by our years ago. Have beearked by the senseless killing floyd a black man advance of public o safety officers. One officer sworn to protect and defend in no on his neck for nine minutes extinguishing his life. But this moment is about so much more. The pain and anger the anguishhets of black americans everywhere runs are deeper on a single tragedy pain born of endless string of tragedy. The senseless killings of Breonna Taylor, ahmaud arbery, eric garner and tamir rice and sandra bland of gray, miael brown of trayvon and more, so many black, men and today. Ofar Rayshard Brooks, shot in the back b who diedri this past writing night. It is a pain bven before we were yet the country when more than 400 use go traders kidnapped africans from their own lands brought them here to these shores, american shores, sold them, locked them in generations of brutal slavery treated not as people as property chainedol with, raped, treated as something lessthan human whipped. Our nation is never come to terms with this legacy. Theres no memorial on the national mall. Theres no truth in so still today americas gaping wound of racism leads pain and injustice and inequality continues plague every system in our country. Too many black men and women have lost their their lives their dignity to a Justice System rigged them. Racial prong mandatory frisk acts of actions. We entrust to our p safety officers vast power to serve their communities. Have we ensure that that vast power is exercised equally on behalf of all citizen often forces, Public Safety forces Police Forces treat white citizens as clients and black citizens as a thr that is must change. Its why im so proud to stand here in support of senator booker and senator harris sweeping justice and policing ac reform bill. We need to hold officers acble for their actions. We need to changen the culture of po and legislation is the right law right moment to begin to do that. No one should ever be profiledsed on the color killed eric garner must be a thing of the past. The one that ended with Breonna Taylor being been shot to death in her bed shoul longer exist and under justice and policing act these will be gone. And when a Public Safety offer misuses the immense power of his or her badge that misuse must be be document, must of that abuse must be public. That is the essence of accountability goes hand in hand the responsibility and the power that goes with wearing the never again should an officer who is been fired for abusing their power be able to go down the road and be hired by another department and be able to continue abusing pra setting. Thats why advocated for National Database of Police Misconduct to achieve outcome, and why i a booker is a database in the justice and policing act. In 196 before concluded that policing practices applaud Justice System, unscrewed with consumer creditou practices housing high anna palmer Voter Suppression and other cultural and better forms d converge on the streets of riaf American CitiesNorth South East and west. Doesnt that alltoofamiliar here to get two century later, one perso testifying on the commission said, i r report of the 1919 right in chicago and it was asnvestiga the harlem riot of 1935. The reporting and investigating committee of the riot of 43, the report of the cone commission ofn canada to members of thisce commission, its the with moving picture showed over anda;ver again the same analysis the same recommendations and the same today is a moment for a day of action for greater investment in a formal housing indecent communities, in schools and teachers iin community is for Good Investments and business owners, Early Education programs like head start. Its a time t a control he has the right to vote free from Voter Suppression intimidation. This friday our nation will once again recognize and celebrate juneteenth. The day when slavery official entered in this country 155 years ago. Let this juneteenth stand as a day for all of us to reflect on the calls for now is time to be agents o yes, to listen to theth voice of the people, to join with those have taken toee the streets entering the rubber bullets b and the baton and that your g w stand up for whats right. Now was the moment to stand shoulder and shoulder with our fellow americans without enough ofring of inequality, of the injustice so together we can help our nation live ue ideal of a land where everyone no matter the color of their skin is treated with a dignity t and respect and the opportunity and the equality, equal to all others. Recognized. Madam president i attended a rally for justice sponsored by two young women one highschooler and one a middle schooler in my hometown. The rally was one of numerous marches and rallies that occurred every day sometimes a day in richmond in the weeks after the horrific public murder of george floyd. Hundreds of people gathered in the Maggie L Walker plaza named after pioneering africanamerican woman business and civil rights leader. They gathered in the placid to hear from our cities young pe when asked if they were graduates of this class of 2020, a class whose senior to heao face a future frankly seems very, very m. I attended the listen. I used to be the mayor and governor not a sender by attended as a neighbor to listen. Listen. As the program and they didnt ask to speak. I wanted to hear how our y people view this moment in time, and what they are asking of us. What i heard in many different ways from speeches and artistic politics as usual. No more politics as usual. No more Police Killings the no more empty promises of reform after each new policing outrage. No more Education System that downplays the reality of injustice in this country since its birth. No more educational content thatp also downplays the contributions of African Americans indians latinos and others to our nation. No more veneration of the confederacy in richmond,n in virginia or anywhere else in the United States. Olthis gathering this rally had a lot of police there the police were there trying to keep the crowd from spilling from the plasma onto the busy broad street when he wouldve y passing vehicles. The rally advocated to defund the police but others disagreed. Some asserted all cops are bad but others disagreed. The reality the rally was robust raw diverse and it was the epitome the absolute the pick me up peacefully assembling to petition government for redress of grievancesor contemplated by the fi just as my young activists urged in many different ways to in politics as usual i desperately want to end apathy as usual. Apathy of the citizenry is a cheap guarantor of politics as usual. And then the Tremendous Energy demonstrated by these richmond errors and demonstrate on the streets of communities all overss this country im starting to be hopeful about the end of apathy as usual. These young people, they want action and resultsy and that they deserve i to join senators barker, harris, and many others in supporting the justice and n policing act of 2020. We need to ban chokehold. When he did then noknock warrant. We need a banned racial and religious profiling. We need to hold Police Officers and Police Departments accountable for violent reckless behavior. We needfessional accreditation of Police Departments. Rt madam president why do w we demand that universities maintain accreditation receive federal funds but make no s demand of Law Enforcement much more. Within the criminal Justice System also within all of our system to dismantle that this structures of racism thats our fede local governments maintained over centur virginia. The first africanamericans in the english colonies came to virginia in 1619. A been captured against their will but they landed in colonies that didnt have slavery. There were no laws about slavery in the colonies at that time. States didnt inherit slavery from anybody. We created it. Virginia genoa summit and country by the court s colonial america forced fugitive slave laws. We created it and we created and maintained it over centuries. In my lifetime we have finally stopped those practices but weve never gone back to undo it. Stopping racist practices at your 350 or 400 years but then taking the entle them is not the as truly combating but unmindful of the challenge laid down by our young people. No more politics as usual. Its one thing to introduce the bill. We do tha so often the introduction of the bill is all that occurs. No committee hearing. Committee markup. No committee vote. No floor debate. No floor vote. No aday story. And then possibly a blame game about who ipening. Thats been my biggest disappointment in 7 2unlike my service of the state and local levels we took action and it engaged in healthy competition at who shoul credit in congress it is too nathen an unproductive competition over who should be blamed for nothing getting done. Politics as usual. I pray that the engaged activism of our citizens has brought us to aus new moment that will compel us to actn way small in accord with it equality ideal that we profess to our resolve, and i urge my so that we can look our young people in their faces and tell them that we truly heard them. With that, madam president i yield the floor. Madam president . The senator from maryland is recognized. Thank you madam president. Ou it was 2015 shortly freddie gray in Police Custody in baltimore that i was in the c community in which ready grew up, meeting with Community Leaders any of them ive known for many, many years. We had an honest discussion about how policing in baltimore had unfolded. I was surprised to hear that these Community Leaders who want safety in their Community Felt that they could not confide with the police because they did not want people from their committee subject to do that discriminatory i had another meeting during that time with a group of africanamican families. Everyone told me the they feared, particularly when their young africanamerican sons went into the community because of the fear they would be discriminated the police. That fear was real. So as a result of the freddie gray tragedy w we requested a a pattern, a practicest of investigation by the department of justice. And what was discovered duringtigation is that the policies of the Police Department zero tolerance to crackdown on crime was used to profile the africanamerican community. And in many cases the Police Presence in the community provoked the violence. An added to the harm of the people in the community. So i wanted to take this opportunity to thank senator booker and senator harris for putting together a bill thatloor of the senate as quickly as possible for the justice and policing act. It contains many that quite enacted well before now. The tragic deaths of george floyd, Rayshard Brooks just underscore the importance for us act now. We neehese issues, and we need to pass legislation. Im grateful for senator booker including two provisions that i filed as legislation in several congresses. The interracial religious profilingt act. While ago many of us remember the trayvon in tragic loss profile by police because of the color of his skin. Racial or religious profiling targets a class with discriminatory treatment. Its not when you have individual information that a specific crime is an indicator of its when you target a community for special treatment. Its wrong. Its wrong because its against the values of america of the quality and justice. Its wrong because it wastes resources which are so valuable to keep our communities safe. Its wrong because it turns communitiese. Against police him and if were going to effective Law Enforcement the community and police need to Work Together not at inns. And its wrong because it becomes deadly. Too many innocent people have lost their lives because of discriminatory profiling. It this practice to end in i want to applaud the Obama Administration because they took action that federal Law Enforcement to make racial profiling ill but it still takes place in local Law Enforcement. The legislation include included in the justice and policing act would make that illegal. It would prohibit it and it provides for ways to enforce to make sure the Police Departments comply with the. It also provides for trai