Washington, D.C. — All it took was millions of Americans taking to the streets over the last few weeks to protest the brutal, racist murders of Black Americans for Mitch McConnell to pay lip service to doing something about systemic racism, but fail to commit to meaningful action.
The House, led by the Congressional Black Caucus, has already proposed a bill that would reform qualified immunity, ban chokeholds, establish a national database to track police misconduct and prohibit certain no-knock warrants. Activists across the country have proposed bold and sweeping reforms to meet the moment and make our communities safer.
What has McConnell done so far? Blocked a resolution to condemn President Trump gassing peaceful protestors for a photo-op.
Yesterday, Black and Hispanic voters in Georgia and Nevada waited hours to cast their ballot, because of politically motivated efforts to disenfranchise people of color enabled by McConnell’s conservative judges gutting the voting rights act.
What has McConnell done? He refuses to put H.R. 1, passed by the U.S. House, that would improve access to the ballot.
“Think about this for a second: McConnell has gone to bat for two things over the course of this pandemic: a half-trillion dollar slush fund for corporations and confirming conservative judges who will do the bidding of his special interest donors,” said Joshua Karp of Fix Our Senate. “And now, in the wake of unspeakable tragedy and racially motivated efforts to undermine our Democracy, he is obstructing any meaningful action. McConnell’s never had the back of anyone who can’t do something for him — and this is yet another example of how the American people are left paying the price.”