Work together as a committee this is a bipartisan concern and will have Bipartisan Solutions i hope for the future of our country and for generations of americans to come we have to do that i urge my colleagues in this moment all of us to hear and to listen to our witnesses and work with each other as friends and fellow americans to understand the need in our communities and foster our discussions on a foundation of civility and Mutual Respect we started that and i hope we continue it with that i yield back thank you without objection no other Opening Statements will be included in the record. We have an unusually large panel today but given the broad range of issues that we will be discussing with we have invited a broad range of witnesses as is customary the minority was given the opportunity to invite witnesses well and they have selected mr brown gino pastor scott and miss Underwood Jacobs we welcome everyone and thank them for the for their participation now if the witnesses would please rise i will begin by swearing you in. Do you swear or affirm under penalty of perjury that the testimony you are about to give is true and correct to the best of your knowledge information and belief so help you god. Let the record show that it witness is answered in the affirmative thank you and please be seated. Please note that each of your written statements will be entered into the record in its entirety accordingly i ask that you summarize your testimony in 5 minutes to help you stay within that time for those witnesses testifying in person there is a timing light on your table when the light switches from green to yellow you have one minute to conclude your testimony when the light turns red it signals your 5 minutes have expired for remote participants there is a timer on your screen to help you keep track of time given a large number of witnesses i will introduce each witness and then invite him or her to give his or her testimony before introducing the next witness we will begin with mr floyd fillin is floyd is the brother of george floyd who was killed by Minneapolis Police officers and may 25th mr floyd has spoken eloquently about his brothers life and we appreciate his being with us today having flown to washington to testify before us today directly from his brothers funeral in houston yesterday we are all so sorry for your loss mr floyd you may begin. Chairman Jerrold Nadler and members of the committee thank you for the invitation here today to talk about my big brother george the world knows him is george but i called him perry yesterday we laid him to wrist it was the hardest thing i ever had to do im the big brother now so its my job to come for my brothers and my sisters kerrys kids and everyone who loved him and thats a lot of people i have to be the strong one now because george is gone and me being the big brother now is why im here today to do what period is what to do what it done to take care of the family and others i couldnt take care george dead day he was killed but maybe by speaking with you today i can make sure that his death would not be in vain to make sure that he has more than another face on a t. Shirt more than another name on a list that wont stop growing george always may sacrifices for our family and he may sacrifices for complete strangers he gave the little that he had to help others he was our gentle giant i was reminded there when i watched the video of his murder he kowtow to officers sir he was mild mannered he didnt fight back he listened to our officers the man who took his life who suffocated him for 8 minutes and 46 seconds he still cowed him sir as he begged for his life. I cant tell you the kind of pain you feel when you watch Something Like that when you watch your big brother who you look up to your whole entire life da da begging for his mom im tired im tired of pain pain you feel when you watch Something Like this when you watch a big brother who you looked up to for your whole life da da begging for his mom im here to action to make it stop stop the pain stop us being tired george called for help and he was ignored please listen to the come out im making to you now to the cause of our family and the cars ringing out the streets across the world people of our backgrounds genders and races have come together to demand change on it him on a charge and make the necessary changes that make the Law Enforcement the solution and not the problem hold them accountable when they do something wrong teach them what it means to treat people with empathy every spare teach them what Necessary Force is teased him that deadly force should be used rarely and only when life is a risk george was a heard anyone day he didnt deserve to die over 20. 00 x. And you is that what it is that what a black man is worth 20. 00 this is 2020 enough is enough the people marching in the streets are telling you another said no by their leaders that our country the world needs the right thing the people elected you to speak for to make positive change judges name means something you have the opportunity here today to make your names mean something to if it if it is death. And of change in the world but a better and i think it will then he is the little it is value to make sure his death is not in vain i didnt get the chance to say goodbye to perry while he was here i was robbed a bit but i know hes looking down at us now. Look what you did. Big brother. You changed the world thank you favorite thing but taken care of us well but take care of us now i hope you fall and you can rest in peace power thank you. Thank you mr floyd the native good is the president and c. E. O. Of the Leadership Conference on civil and human rights ms good to previously served as acting assistant attorney general at the department of justice and led the Departments Civil Rights Division she received her j. D. From New York University school of law and her b. A. From Yale University is good to you may be again thank you chairman now there are mr floyd thank you for being here today and for those incredibly powerful words and we are so sorry. Chairman Ranking Member collins and members of the committee thank you for the opportunity to testify today and thank you chairman now they are for calling this hearing on policing practices and the need for transformative policies that promote accountability begin to reimagine Public Safety and respect the dignity of all people. Well the recent murder of george floyd at the hands of 4 Minneapolis Police officers put the issue of Police Brutality in the National Spotlight the outpouring of pain and anger is anything but a reaction to one isolated incident or the misconduct of a few bad apples stead the outcry is a response to the long cycle of stolen lives and violence with impunity toward block people in our nation we are now at a turning point there is no returning to normal we have to create a new way forward one that does more than tinker at the edges that promotes data and training we need something that truly transforms policing and leads to more accountability for communities it is imperative that we get this right and that congress this response in this moment appropriately reflects and acknowledges the important work of block lives matter the movement for black lives and so many people that are bringing us to this Tipping Point my tenure as head of the Justice DepartmentCivil Rights Division began 2 months after 18 year old Michael Brown was killed by a Police Officer in ferguson the Justice Department was hardly perfect but we understood our mandate to promote accountability and constitutional policing in order to build Community Trust during the Obama Administration we opened 25 pattern of practice investigations to help realize greater structural and Community Center change often at the request of Police Chiefs and mayors who needed federal leadership after making findings we negotiated consent decrees with extensive engagement and input from Community Advocates who not only identified unjust unlawful policing practices but also helped develop sustainable mechanisms for accountability and systemic change. That is not the Justice Department that we have today under both attorneys general Jeff Sessions and bill barr the department has abdicated its responsibility in abandon the use of tools like pattern practice investigations and concentric freeze instead it is focused on dismantling Police Accountability efforts and halting any new investigations the disruption of crucial work in the Civil Rights Division and throughout the department of justice to bring forth accountability and transparency in policing is deeply concerning in the absence of welcome if youre just joining us youre watching aljazeera coming to you live from doha and washington youre looking there at testimony being given to one of the Senate Committees specifically to do with the aftermath of what happens to policing in the United States following on more than 2 weeks now since the death of george floyd weve just been hearing from for the news floyd his brother he said i have to be strong i have to be the strong one i am the big brother he said talking of george his elder brother by speaking with you he said to members of the panel there i want to make sure his death will not be in vain he wrapped up by basically saying when it came to Racial Discrimination and also issues of race directed at the people of color by a predominantly white police force he said stop the pain and lets stay with those pictures and talk to our correspondent heidi jocasta whos following proceedings for us there on capitol hill just put this in context for us this is possibly one of the most significant series of conversations on capitol hill that weve seen for a very very long time. Thats right this is the 1st hearing in which these Committee Members are considering passage of this democratic introduced and sponsored bill that we saw in veiled earlier in the week which its sponsors call a sweeping and transformative reform of the policing system in the United States gerald there are the top democrat on this Committee Just described it in a sense of changing this mentality of policing from being a warrior mentality to that of a guardian what does that really mean though theres a lot of defining that still has to be done youve heard activists throwing around the phrase defund the police even abolish the police in the United States and now what were seeing is of the riot even took protege sions of what those phrases mean the democrats on this committee have said that their legislation does not defund the Police Rather it would create a National Registry a database of Police Misconduct it would ban chokeholds and no knock warrants in some cases and make it easier to hold Police Officers accountable in both civil and criminal Court Proceedings but we also heard from the ranking republican member on this committee who went straight for that a balazs of the police defund the Police Rhetoric which we know has been in a sense received in a inflammatory way by the right with some americans saying it is ludicrous and the Ranking Member calling it a crazy idea to defund the police we know the president has been opposition of that phrasing as well so theres a many more witnesses to go today in fact 11 more in addition to the brother of george floyd who we just heard from and of course will be expecting testimony from all of them and more debate on not exactly what it means to be defunding or reforming the police and what these proposals will look like in practice. As part of this conversation heidi does this mean that the Committee Members can or might want to change or find shewn the proposed democratic legislation and whats the timeline here of the time scale rather because theres so much momentum globally behind the campaigning behind the marching behind the people protesting presumably those politicians where you are dont want to be seen to be squandering that momentum and then go away and in effect do nothing or come up with legislation or rubber stamp legislation that doesnt achieve anything. Sure and all of this is in the context peter of the upcoming president ial elections and certainly as you mentioned there is this shifting of Public Opinion that is significant in American Culture never before have 7 out of 10 americans agreed that racism and discrimination is a systemic problem in policing in the United States we saw that shift in just the last 4 years of chorus the biggest flashpoint being the killing of george floyd now to your question whether or not the legislation can be amended today thats not something that the Committee Members are going to do today but they do have a markup session planned for the near future in which they need to tweak this legislation but because this is all taking place in the democratic controlled house very likely this legislation will pass quickly and with majority support in this Lower Chamber the bigger question is what will happen and if it reaches the Senate Republican leader of the Senate Mitch Mcconnell has not committed to even taking up this legislation that means it may never even have it stay to be heard in the Senate Rather a Senate Republicans are focusing on their own package addressing Police Brutality in the United States theyve tapped their alone where public and black member of the senate should be the drafter of that bill we have to see those details they could be unveiled sometime later this week but we know that the one the major difference it will likely have is that part about immunity for Police Officers democrats want to strip some of that immunity so it is easier to hold officers accountable in civil and criminal Court Proceedings the white house has called that a nonstarter and it is reportedly missing from the republican response and their version of the bill heidi groups told you thank you very much will keep us right across all the developments im sure in the meantime well get the news. 10 minutes from now thank you heidi. Lets wrap up some other stories for you Security Forces in south africa are being accused of using Excessive Force whilst implementing coronavirus locked on measures they have allegedly killed at least 6 people i mean a 1000000 reports now from johannesburg. Try to curb the spread of coronavirus south africa imposed one of the strictest lockdowns in the world along with it came the deployment of the police and army and accusations of the abuse of power. In mobile footage this man is forced to hop by a soldier after being found outside his home. Locked on restrictions only allow people to leave their homes for food medicine and essential services cesar a must was allegedly shot and killed by security personnel working with police at his home in a forceless on johannesburgs east grand hes cousin and tom baker you say omar says he was caesar was shot behind this burglar gate during a police raid in the area. Because he says says the officer forced his way into the yard after a confrontation with people seems to at the front gate he carry on came inside got to the yard area i locked my cousin inside the verandah. He wasnt come front to be he wasnt taking him he literally pulled a gun on somebody he was just. 2 houses away simpy says during the same raid we put these kicked in his door and shot him twice with rubber coated steel bullets last month the High Court Ordered an end to police and Army Brutality saying torture or degrading punishment must stop it came off to another man collins course died after allegedly being beaten by Security Forces. Both deaths are under investigation in the case of collins cause a preliminary report says the army did nothing wrong while a Security Officer has been charged with the murder of secrecy so a most dozens of complaints against the military including you. Excessive force physical abuse murder and brutality an independent body which monitors police abuse has registered 39. 00 cases with accusations that at least 6 people were killed by police 2 months after the coronavirus lockdown began soldiers and police are still on the streets despite the easing of restrictions and for many a court having to compel Security Forces to respect the rights of people has been just as shocking as the violence itself. Aljazeera johannesburg the coronavirus pandemic is causing the worst health and economic crisis since world war 2 thats the assessment from the organization for Economic Cooperation and development the group is made up of 37. 00 free market democratic countries as the loss of income will exceed that of any recession in the last century soda water time the o. E. C. D. Product projects Economic Growth will shrink globally and in the u. K. France italy and spain will be the worst affected its advocating a rise in Public Investment in digital and Green Technologies to help hard hit economies in burgas with the European Institute at the l. S. E. He says its hard to make accurate predictions the difficulty that all the Economic Forecasters have of the moment is the uncertainty we just dont know whats going to happen and we dont know whats going to happen youre relying on assumptions and economic models for which theyre not really working quipped. Thats the trend in all the forecast are we looking at over the last couple of months whos being increasingly pessimistic about the outlook for both the Global Economy in particular the european economy and within the european economy i think 2 things are going on the 1st is that many of these protective measures were a bit like having a treatment for the disease it doesnt solve it but it tries to mitigate the consequences you have short term working arrangements for example which enable people to stay connected to jobs the european approach has been in stark contrast to the u. S. Where they simply fire and then rehire the idea in many European Countries led by germany and france has been to keep people on the books so you dont then become registers unemployed in trouble is thats very expensive and the paradox at the heart of dealing with Something Like covert is you want to close down the economy deliberately to cause recession to stop the spread of the infection at the same time you want to stimulate the economy when its appropriate to relaunch it and getting that judgement right when to shift from mitigation to relaunch and stimulus is a very very difficult challenge facing policymakers the German Foreign minister has expressed serious concerns to israel about its plans to annex more of the occupied west bank they call mass that the Israeli Foreign minister Gabi Ashkenazi in west jerusalem is also meeting the top leadership there the e. U. Opposes is really an expansion plans that are part of a u. S. Outline for the middle east germany and the e. U. Say they are committed to the resumption of negotiations but then takes over the blocks presidency in july and may consider sanctions on israel over its actions commands of it of appears together with the European Union we believe that any extension would not be compatible with International Law that is why we continue to support a mutual 2 state solution. You know going is ation of islamic cooperation also rejects israeli policies that adversely affect palestinians the head of the oases said you know laughter all measures by israel undermine any possibility of a 2 state solution threaten stability across the region. China says is reached what its calling a positive consensus with india over a border standoff after generals from both sides met at the weekend have been tensions in the himalayan region of dark india has accused china of repeatedly encroaching on its territory a large fire caused by a gas leak in indias assem state has now been confined to a small area but emergency crews say it will still take up to 4 weeks to bring it under control the fire began after gas that was leaking from a state oil facility for 2 weeks suddenly ignited on tuesday local media is reporting 2 firefighters have died the indian army has been called in to help. Ok when we come back on the other side of the break well have the news for you 60 minutes of news and comment if youre just joining us though just to let you know what weve been hearing in the past hour or so from capitol hill testimony is being given by more than a dozen key players in how the u. S. Police system should change in the coming years following the death more than 2 weeks ago of george floyd weve been hearing from his immediately younger brother for the naisi floyd he said i have to be the strong one because im the big brother referring to george floyd by speaking with you he said Committee Members we want to make sure his death will not be in vain heres what for the uneasy floyd told Committee Members im here. To make it stop. Stop the pain stop us being tired george called for help and he was ignored please listen to the cowed im making to you now to the cause of our family and the cause ringing out the streets across the world people of our backgrounds genders and races have come together to demand change on it him on or george and make the necessary changes then make the Law Enforcement the solution. When we come back with the news hour here on aljazeera english well put those comments in context for you well get the latest as well from White House Correspondent in a couple of minutes but. They say to really know someone you must walk a mile in their shoes follow in their footsteps as they forge their way in the world. Aljazeera shares these personal journeys. Inspiring stories of people persevering on their chosen path. With news documentaries on aljazeera. Save humanity i really really not getting anywhere near it. When you see big groups of people walking through europe theyre all individuals with children the law yeah all of them in fact. Then with something that in respects. d this is al jazeera. Hello and welcome im peter double youre watching the news our live from our headquarters here in doha coming up in the next 60 minutes im here. To make it. Stop the pain a call for justice at the heart of u. S. Governments the brother of george floyd sticks his plea to the u. S. House of representatives. Tension behind the friendly gestures germanys for