George Floyd Protests Work. Here's Proof.

In the nearly two weeks since a Minneapolis police officer killed George Floyd, the uprising against police violence has spread from the Twin Cities to all 50 states and across 50 other countries. Lawmakers are being forced to reckon with their complicity in unchecked policing – in one case, Minneapolis’ mayor, Jacob Frey, was publicly booed by constituents for not committing to defunding the police department.

And now, protesters’ demands to defund, demilitarize and abolish police departments are gaining traction.

Following Frey’s confrontation with constituents, a majority of Minneapolis City Council members said they’d begin the process of “dismantling the Minneapolis Police Department,” though their plan hasn’t been announced. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has pledged to redistribute some police funding to “youth initiatives and social services,” while Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti has ended plans for an LAPD budget increase and pledged a similar redistribution to Black communities and communities of color.

There’s also been a new spate of chokehold bans (though many have argued that these types of reforms merely tinker at the edges of the system). House and Senate Democrats included a ban in their new police reform bill. In New York, state lawmakers on Monday passed the Eric Garner Anti-Chokehold Act, allowing prosecutors to charge police officers with a felony if they injure or kill someone while putting them in a chokehold. And New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal also banned police from using chokeholds, unless they feel an “imminent threat” to their life. In Sacramento, the Davis Police Department has banned officers from using chokeholds and now requires police to intervene if they see another officer using excessive force.

Other states are considering greater checks on police, like in Oregon, where potential legislation would require the Oregon attorney general to manage investigations and prosecute police who fatally shoot people in cases with evidence of malfeasance. In Texas, lawmakers have proposed the Botham Jean Act, a bill named after a Black man who was killed by an off-duty police officer in his apartment in 2018. The law would penalize police for not turning on their body cameras.