Racial Equity & Equal Justice for All
Americans were horrified in the summer of 2020 at the unjust killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and other Black Americans during encounters with police. These tragedies highlighted the deep-seated injustices that have long affected Black Americans and the denial of equal justice for all. Not only is our criminal justice system inequitable, but racial disparities continue to exist in many aspects of American life and our economy, including income, wealth distribution, housing, health care, and access to higher education. For too long this country has ignored the need to engage in real, serious policymaking focused on eliminating these disparities and ensuring that every American has an equal shot at “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Democrats are continuing to make equity and reducing disparities a focus of our legislative and economic agenda. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law makes equitable investments to address long-ignored disparities that prevent underserved communities from reaching their full economic potential. These include expanding access to broadband for 42 million Americans who currently lack reliable Internet access, funding upgrades to our water infrastructure to ensure Americans have clean drinking water, addressing legacy pollution, and expanding reliable public transit to underserved communities. During the 117th Congress, history was made when the Emmett Till Antilynching Act was passed and signed into law. This long-overdue law designates lynching as a hate crime under federal law, ensuring the full force of the government is brought to prosecute these monstrous crimes that have terrorized the Black community for over a century. House Democrats also passed the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act in 2020 to root out racial biases in police departments and ban practices such as chokeholds and no-knock warrants. In the 118th Congress, Democrats will continue to we work with the Biden Administration to make equal justice, racial equity, and opportunity a reality for all Americans.
“I am encouraged that the Senate has now voted to bring the Employment Non-Discrimination Act to the Floor for consideration, a bill that would provide important protections for American workers facing discrimination
“Lorraine Miller is a trailblazing leader who has served our country with distinction as the first African-American Clerk of the House of Representatives, and she will do an outstanding job leading the NAACP as its interim President and CEO.
“Five years ago today, the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 was signed into law, representing a significant victory in the ongoing effort to ensure full equality of access and opportunity for Americans with disabilities. No American ought to be denied a job, access to a building, or the right to make his or her own medical decisions as the result of a disability.
“Two years ago today, our nation fully opened the doors of military service to LGBT Americans wishing to serve their country openly. The end of the discriminatory 'Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell' policy reflected the great American tradition of breaking down barriers and expanding equal opportunity, and I was proud to have played a part in Democrats’ effort to repeal it.
“Fifty years ago this Sunday, four young lives were tragically cut short as a bomb ripped through the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. That heinous attack, a result of the hatred and bigotry of segregation and Jim Crow, opened the eyes of so many Americans to injustices they could no longer ignore.
“In presenting a Congressional Gold Medal today in memory of Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley, we mark a day long awaited. Thanks to the efforts of Congresswoman Terri Sewell, Congress is recognizing and honoring the lives of the four little girls brutally killed in the September 15, 1963, bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama.
“I join in wishing Ben Jealous well as he prepares to step down at the end of the year as President of the NAACP, our nation’s oldest and most highly respected civil rights advocacy organization
“Federal recognition for all legally married same-sex couples for the purposes of tax filing has been long overdue.
“Fifty years ago today, hundreds of thousands of Americans from all walks of life assembled on the National Mall to call for jobs, freedom, and full equality for all the people of our land.
“Fifty years ago, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stood here and put into mighty words the hopes, the dreams, the frustrations of millions of Americans, black and white, that the people of this land were not yet fully free – and that none could enjoy the promise of our democracy until all could enjoy it.