On the recordJune 2, 2020
let me start by saying to our colleague, the Senator from New Jersey who just spoke on the floor, that we are all thankful for his passion to make sure that this country lives up to its promise and for sharing with this body his personal testimony about racism and the need for all of us to move urgently to address the fundamental inequities at the heart of our society and institutions. I don't think it is an overstatement to say that we are at a pivotal point in our country. It is a moment of reckoning. Historians will carefully examine this moment to see how our country responded to see which path we took, how the Senate responded, how each Senator responded. The immediate spark for this moment was the brutal murder of George Floyd by agents of government. In Minneapolis, a police officer aided and abetted by three other officers--we all witnessed the horror of George Floyd gasping ``I can't breathe'' as a White officer kept his knee on his neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds; three other officers participated in the crime. All four need to be brought to justice, but the murder of George Floyd was not an isolated event in the United States of America. It is not the first time a Black man has called out ``I can't breathe'' as he was choked or lynched.…
