Lawmakers ‘must pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act now’, Biden says, amid shock over Sonya Massey death

Joe Biden has called on Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, moments after shocking police video was released showing an Illinois officer fatally shooting Sonya Massey after she called police fearing a home intruder.

In his first public statement since dropping his bid for re-election, Biden said the shooting of Massey, a 36-year-old Black woman, by white Sangamon county sheriff’s deputy Sean Grayson, in her home in Springfield, after a dispute over a pot of boiling water, “reminds us that all too often Black Americans face fears for their safety in ways many of the rest of us do not”.

Biden, who is recovering from Covid at his home in Delaware, said Massey, “a beloved mother, friend, daughter and young Black woman … should be alive today”.

  • octopus_ink@lemmy.mlEnglish
    711·
    4 months ago

    I’m not claiming to know what kind of training would help, just that “train them better” isn’t a particularly controversial statement. I’m also not arguing against police reform, which is desperately needed.

    It’s a controversial statement when it’s the closest we’ve been able to come to anything resembling police reform, and is frankly insultingly little after everything that has transpired around those sorts of issues. If you don’t like how angry I am about it, I’m sorry to tell you that telling me not to be angry isn’t going to make me less so. I’m far more pissed off now that everyone has woken up to attack me for criticizing the party I was already going to vote for because I had the gall to call it like I saw it than the mild disgruntlement I was experiencing when I made the first comment.

    Fucking rise up like this to demand better from Dems, folks!

    • Blackbeard@lemmy.worldMEnglish
      72·
      4 months ago

      and is frankly insultingly little after everything that has transpired around those sorts of issues

      Due to Republicans.

      If you don’t like how angry I am about it, I’m sorry to tell you that telling me not to be angry isn’t going to make me less so.

      Nobody told you not to be angry, so not sure why you’re so defensive. Just be angry at the people actually keeping things from happening and the voters who keep sending them to DC, not the politicians drafting laws and trying to negotiate their passage.

      I’m far more pissed off now that everyone has woken up to attack me for criticizing the party I was already going to vote for because I had the gall to call it like I saw it than the mild disgruntlement I was experiencing when I made the first comment.

      Nobody “woke up” to attack you. This is a public discussion forum. Don’t take everything so personally.

      Fucking rise up like this to demand better from Dems, folks!

      …and stop voting for Republicans.

      • octopus_ink@lemmy.mlEnglish
        510·
        4 months ago

        Due to Republicans.

        Republicans HAVE NOT stopped Dems from being able to message and signal around this issue to their heart’s content, and try to stir up more public support. They DID NOT force Biden to boil all that down to nothing more than calling for more police funding and then shutting the fuck up about the topic until we got close to an election.

      • octopus_ink@lemmy.mlEnglish
        510·
        4 months ago

        Nobody told you not to be angry, so not sure why you’re so defensive.

        Because I may as well be advocating for Trump to get elected the way some folks are reacting

        Don’t take everything so personally.

        Possibly the oldest insult on the internet aside from asking someone if they are twelve. God forbid folks be passionate about something.