Police are responding to shots that were fired at the George Floyd Memorial in Minneapolis, Minnesota, as mourners gathered to remember Floyd's death one year ago today.
She added that judges, juries, and criminal defendants should all be aware if an officer accusing someone else of a crime has themselves engaged in dishonesty, excessive use of force, tampering with evidence, or other abuse of authority.
“Those who have the power to take away another’s liberty, those who have the power to take away another’s life, should not be able to hide their misconduct and misdeeds behind an outdated law,” Seemans said.
SB 149 would allow public review of any complaints, allegations, or charges filed against an officer. It would also unveil transcripts of any disciplinary hearings. Personal information like an officer’s address or phone number would remain confidential, as would the names of family members or witnesses in a hearing.
Over the course of the last 365 days, residents of the Twin Cities have learned they cannot change history. However, understanding history may help all of us as a nation shape the next few chapters.
Date Time
One year after George Floyd: When will white Americans rise up for justice?
A Los Angeles Police helicopter hovers as Joyce Robertson, foreground, clenches her fist in Los Angeles after a guilty verdict was announced at the trial of former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin for the 2020 death of George Floyd. (AP photo by Jae C. Hong)
In the long and terrible history of violence against Black people in America, the police killing of George Floyd one year ago may someday stand as a historical marker: After all that the nation has been through, we may have imagined that we had made indelible progress, but the way that Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin planted his knee in Floyd’s neck was a blunt counterpoint.
WUNC In this May 2020 file photo, police officers in riot gear face a line of kneeling protesters in downtown Raleigh.
Two bills one in the state House, the other in the Senate would stiffen penalties for damaging property or injuring others during a riot. The bills come as North Carolinians continue to protest police violence toward Black individuals.
Taari Coleman felt a palpable sense of unity when she joined a large group of people in Raleigh last May to protest the police killing of George Floyd. Like really empowered,” she said. “Connected to all the people around me, in a way that you hadn t really felt connected in a little while because we had all been so online and so isolated and so far from each other.”