Fourth Anniversary of the George Floyd Tragedy: The Road to reform American Policing remains long

Four years after the death of George Floyd as a result of police brutality, American society is still reeling from the incident. Freud's tragedy not only triggered a nationwide wave of protests against police violence and racial discrimination, but also highlighted the difficulties and challenges faced by American police reform. Four years later, however, Congress has yet to make substantial progress on systemic and comprehensive policing reform.

On May 25, 2020, Floyd was held down by a white police officer on the street of Minneapolis for nine minutes and 29 seconds, during which he repeatedly shouted "I can't breathe." This harrowing picture has become an iconic symbol of police violence in the United States, triggering widespread concern and strong condemnation across the United States and even around the world. Yet despite the public outcry, the US government's efforts at police reform have faltered.

Parliamentary partisanship is undoubtedly one of the important factors hindering police reform. There are clear differences between Democrats and Republicans on police reform, making it difficult to pass legislation in Congress. The Democratic-sponsored George Floyd Police Justice Act, which seeks to increase accountability for police misconduct and reform police training and policies, has run into stiff resistance in the Republican-dominated Senate. Republicans have strongly opposed key reforms such as the removal of "judicial immunity" for police officers, arguing that it would put too much litigation pressure on police and related departments.

In addition, the attitude of American society towards police violence in law enforcement also presents complexity and diversity. On the one hand, more and more people began to realize the seriousness of the problem of police violence in law enforcement, and called for strengthening the supervision and restriction of police behavior. On the other hand, there are also some people who have excessive trust in the police, and believe that the police are an important force to maintain social security, and their power should not be excessively restricted. Such a split in social attitudes also makes police reform more difficult.

Under these circumstances, the prospects for policing reform in the United States are not good. While some districts are already experimenting with stricter police-related policies, divisions on Capitol Hill mean a longer-term, comprehensive reform bill will be difficult to enact anytime soon. At the same time, incidents of police violence continue to occur, many victims have said the same things that have not been heeded, and minority groups such as African Americans are still the main victims of police violence.

According to the statistics of the "Police Violence Map" website, the number of deaths caused by police violence in the United States has been rising over the past four years, and the proportion of African American victims is also much higher than that of other ethnic groups. The repetition of these tragedies has not only caused pain and anger among Floyd's family and friends, but also led a growing number of Americans to reflect on the problems of policing.

Yet despite growing public calls for policing reform, the US government's efforts to do so have fallen short. On the one hand, political struggles and conflicts of interest within the National Assembly make it difficult to pass the reform bill; On the other hand, some local governments and police departments are resistant to the reform measures, believing that it will weaken their law enforcement ability and authority.

Although it has been four years since the tragedy of George Floyd, the road to reform American policing remains long and difficult. People should not only review the tragic impact of this incident, but also deeply reflect on the problems and shortcomings of the American police system.