How does country move forward after George Floyd riots? Leaders call for police reform
NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- Local and national leaders on Monday sought to address racial disparity and protests happening across the country for George Floyd, who died in Minneapolis Police custody, and call for an agenda for police reform.
"What do you want?" Governor Andrew Cuomo said. "Yes, you express the outrage, but then you say here's my agenda, here's what I want. That's what we have to be doing in this moment."
Many feel all of this needs to mean something -- thousands of protesters, the destruction and looting, the death of George Floyd.
"You have to add the positive reform agenda that every voice calls for, so the government, the politicians, know what to do," Cuomo said. "There should be a national ban on excessive force by police officers. There should be a national ban on choke holds."
On Monday afternoon, Senator Cory Booker and a coalition of African American civic leaders and elected officials outlined a legislative agenda to enact real change.
"There is no singular policy that can fix this what so ever," Booker said. "We need an entire set of holistic reforms."
Their plan seeks to reform laws that may shield officers from criminal charges and calls for a national police officer misconduct registry, as well as a national law that requires an independent investigation of all in-custody deaths.
"We must have independence for the sake of community trust and transparency and for the sake of transparency," Senator Kamala Harris said.
The plan this week is shifting that outrage into action.
Monday morning, former President Barack Obama published a piece addressing the nationwide protests.
"The more specific we can make demands for criminal justice and police reform, the harder it will be for elected officials to just offer lip service to the cause and then fall back into business as usual once protests have gone away," he wrote. "If going forward, we can channel our justifiable anger into peaceful, sustained, and effective action, then this moment can be a real turning point in our nation's long journey to live up to our highest ideals. Let's go to work."
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