(INDIANAPOLIS) – The president of the National Urban League says the U.S. shouldn’t squander an opportunity for meaningful steps toward racial justice in the aftermath of the George Floyd killing.
Former New Orleans Mayor Marc Morial told the Economic Club of Indiana he’s disappointed that what he calls a “modest” bill to track and prevent police misconduct has stalled in the Senate two years in a row. The bill would create a federal misconduct registry, ban chokeholds, and make the use of body and dashboard cameras a condition of federal funding for local police departments.
Republicans have called the bill overbroad, and a provision limiting police immunity from lawsuits has been a particular sticking point in attempts to forge a compromise.
But Morial says local police reform efforts have fared better. Indiana’s legislature unanimously passed a police reform law this year, and Morial says private institutions have taken the challenge of racial equity seriously, though he cautions those efforts need to bring meaningful change, not just public relations.
And Morial says he’s excited about an Indianapolis Urban League effort to look beyond policing issues to address racial disparities from jobs to homeownership. The Lilly Endowment is backing the five-year project with a $100 million grant, and Morial says he expects an announcement of priorities and timelines by the end of the year.
