SOUTH MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - Members of South Florida’s congressional delegation stood in solidarity with organizations dedicated to civil rights to honor George Floyd and call for social change.
Hours before the first memorial service for the 46-year-old got underway in Minneapolis on Thursday, local lawmakers and leaders met at Sweet Home Missionary Baptist Church in South Miami-Dade to discuss congressional reform.
“I believe that love should be the highest goal, and so I thank you all for coming today,” said the Rev. Theo Johnson, the church’s pastor.
The goal of the event was to talk about possible changes to police practices and accountability, honor Floyd’s memory and hear from community members.
Floyd’s death in Minneapolis on May 25 was captured on cellphone video, sparking protests across the country.
Several organizations were present for Thursday’s event, including the South Miami-Dade Branch of the NAACP and Mothers Fighting for Change.
Speakers at the event said we are currently at a tipping point in American history and that it will require a lot of work to continue to see change.
“We need to dismantle every aspect of racism in this society,” said Dwight Bullard, president of the South Miami-Dade Branch of the NAACP, “so we have to begin to look, work in conjunction with one another in order to create regulatory policies that protect communities, do not police them.”
U.S. Reps. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell and Donna Shalala, D-Fla., talked about what they and their colleagues are doing to change police practices.
“I have joined my colleague and good friend, Representative Hakeem Jeffries, on legislation that will outlaw at the federal level any form of chokehold by law enforcement,” said Mucarsel-Powell.
“We’re co-sponsoring a resolution introduced by Representative Ayanna Pressley supporting the establishment of independent, all-civilian review boards in police departments across the country,” said Shalala.
Speakers urged people to make their voices heard by voting.
“Not only on the federal level, statewide level, but also on municipal and local levels,” said Florida State Rep. Kionne McGhee.
“We’re going to control this narrative. This is what the new narrative is going to say: inclusion, not exclusion,” said activist Timothy Jones.
“I thank you all for what you’re doing, and I’ll just continue to ask that you keep our community in prayer as we stand along each other,” said Johnson. “At the end of the day, love will conquer all.”
There were also discussions at the event of a bipartisan committee that is currently studying how black men and boys are treated in the United States.
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