As protests against racial injustice and police brutality continue across the United States, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., told his colleagues in the Senate Wednesday that the country is “seething with rage and sorrow” in the wake of the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis law enforcement last week.
In cities around the country, people have taken to the streets after Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, died on May 25, when a police officer kneeled on his neck for more than 8 minutes. Floyd’s death, recorded on video, ignited widespread backlash against racism and police violence.
Some of the protests have turned violent, with law enforcement clashing with citizens. Many cities implemented curfews in efforts to curb looting and violence, and President Donald Trump on Monday threatened to deploy the military.
“America is hurting, it’s reeling from a deadly pandemic and then witnessing the broaddaylight murder, murder, of yet another black man,” Leahy said Wednesday in the Senate chamber.
Leahy, who is the dean of the Senate and has served in Congress since 1975, said that in all his years in the upper chamber, he has “never seen our country so in need of healing.”
“It’s no surprise that protest swept our nation in the wake of this murder. Communities of color and all those who sympathize with them are fed up,” Leahy said. “No one of good conscience can sit idly by while African American lives are treated with less worth in our country that long ago promised equal rights.”
Leahy also condemned the president’s threat of deploying the U.S. military in American cities as well as Trump’s decision to call demonstrators “thugs.” Vermont’s senior senator publicly opposed Trump’s call for military intervention just hours after Defense Secretary Mark Esper also declared he did not agree with sending active-duty troops into U.S. cities.
But Leahy struck an optimistic note as he concluded his remarks Wednesday.
“I am hopeful we will make it through, a slightly more perfect union,” he said.
In a May 29 video responding to Floyd’s death, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said that it “strikes at the very heart” of American society. Sanders said that the deadly force used by law enforcement against Floyd is just the latest example of systemic racism and police brutality.
What we need is a nation that fundamentally respects the human dignity of every person. That starts with justice for George Floyd. pic.twitter.com/XvC3rd4tpS
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) May 29, 2020
“Every killing by a police officer must be independently investigated by the Department of Justice, every police officer guilty of murder must be held accountable, incluing those who stand by and do nothing to intervene,” Sanders said.
In his statement, Sanders also targeted Trump, criticizing the president’s seeming support of the use of force to subdue protesters.
“What a sad period this is for our democracy and for fundamental decency,” he said.
Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., joined Leahy and Sanders in condemning Floyd’s murder and the White House’s response to the protests the killing has sparked.
In a written statement released May 30, Welch said Americans must ask themselves some hard questions about how people of color are treated in the U.S.
“Each of us shares the responsibility to challenge a society where it is “normal” for a black man jogging to be shot, or a black man bird-watching to be accused of a life threatening attack, or a justice system to be too often indifferent to injustice,” Welch said, referring to Ahmaud Arbery who was shot dead in Georgia as he was out for a run. He also made a reference to Christian Cooper who was accosted by a white woman after he asked her to put her dog on a leash in Central Park. The woman told Cooper she would call the police and allege “there was an African American man threatening my life.”
On Saturday, more than 1,000 protesters turned out in Burlington and Montpelier as part of the nationwide protests and riots sparked by the killing of Floyd. Protesters have since gathered in other Vermont communities, including Rutland, Brattleboro and St. Albans.
On Monday, Republican Gov. Phil Scott also condemned the killing of Floyd and called on all four police officers, involved in the killing, to be prosecuted.
“Mr. Floyd’s death, under their watch, under an officer’s knee, is barbaric and totally inexcusable,” Scott said during his June 1 press conference.On Wednesday afternoon, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison increased the charge against Derek Chauvin, the officer who had his knee on Floyd’s kneck, to second-degree murder. Charges were also filed against the three other officers involved in the incident.
