this afternoon, a hearing on gun violence prevention and enforcing safe gun storage laws. watch the senate judiciary subcommittee hearing live starting at 2:30 eastern on c-span3, online at c-span.org, or listen live with the free c-span radio app. a very good tuesday morning to you. you can go ahead and start calling in now. we begin this morning with the minneapolis hometown paper "the star tribune." the lead story on their website this morning "a year later, families of those slain by police want lasting change." "the star tribune" also in their print edition, a special section on the legacy of george floyd's life, the movement he ignited, they describe it as, and the story of his death at the hands of a police officer. some of the headlines there a year of reckoning are white leaders truly committed to change, memories scar his

hometown. and the entire front page of this morning's "usa today" devoted to these stories including an interview with george floyd's family members, how they have struggled in the past year, george floyd's family set to meet with president biden today at the white house to mark the anniversary. the other story, the lead story on the front page of "usa today," relatives of those killed by police call for reform. we continue to watch this week the developments with the bipartisan negotiations to come up with a compromise police reform bill. it was yesterday in the white house briefing room that jen psaki was asked about the status of those negotiations. >> well, let me first say that the president is still very much hopeful that he will be able to sign the george floyd justice and policing act into law. and we are of course we closely engaged with a range -- with negotiators while also leaving

them room to work. and on friday the president spoke with senator booker. senator scott has publicly said that the key for us is to keep making progress. and we're going to keep supporting those efforts. you know, i would say it's hard for me to assess from here community where we have seen progress made. certainly the death of george floyd, the tragic death of george floyd has unfortunately elevated into the public eye thanks to the reporting from many of you, the need to put reforms into place, the need to rebuild trust in communities, and we're certainly hopeful that activism, that engagement will help move this legislation across the finish line. >> jen psaki in the white house briefing room yesterday, much more throughout our program today on police reform on capitol hill, the groups who are looking to influence that legislation. but mostly this morning your phone calls. the one-year anniversary of

george floyd's death. 202-748-8000 if you're in the eastern or central time zones. 202-748-8001 if you're in the mountain or pacific time zones. just one of the quick news stories this morning, punch bowl news with their morning newsletter, some updates on that police reform negotiation. a lot of focus on tim scott, the republican from south carolina leading the negotiations on the gop side. the punch bowl news story this morning notice that scott turned heads in the senate yesterday when he told reporters that we had good progress over the weekend. i think we can see the end of the tunnel. he added, obviously not this week coming, i think we're starting to see a framework, though. as we await those negotiations and look to the white house and around the country today for remembrances of george floyd, we're hearing from you and your thoughts this morning. robert's up first out of riverside, california, up very early in california, good

morning, robert. >> morning. i just want to say that as republicans we should be against government corruption. we should be against government overreach and government bureaucracy. and we need to stop pretending like the police departments are immune to that. and there's a lot of people out there who have conspiracies about this all being a politically motivated thing. at the end of the day it was a medical examiner that said that george floyd was killed by that cop. and we're fooling ourselves if people are saying that that wasn't the case. >> robert, how do you think policing has changed in your community, your state? has there been more of a focus on race and policing? >> well, i mean, the change isn't going to come till you get different people in there and you get different systems going on. there's a lot of things that we could be doing with technology that we're not doing with policing. there's a lot more we can be

doing with cameras that could eliminate all this guesswork. we need politicians to step up and provide the money to make those changes, provide the incentives to make those changes. because there's no reason with all the technology we have that we're doing things the exact same way we were doing 50 years ago. >> it's robert out of riverside, california. dan's next out of verona, new york. good morning. >> yes, good morning, thank you for taking my call. you know, this is a tragic situation with mr. floyd. there's plenty of blame to go around on both sides here. we have a situation where this person had enough drugs in him to kill three people. and the coroner himself said he did not die of asphyxiation from this cop sitting on his back. yes, they could have -- but stop and think about how this has escalated to this point we're seeing across this country.

just last night syracuse, new york, 13-year-old girl stabbed to death. the end of last week, 14-year-old shoots a 15-year-old to death. and it goes on and on and on. look at new york city. >> dan, why do you think that's all traced back to the death of george floyd at the hands of derek chauvin? >> number one, it's not just traced back to -- george floyd is another good example of the problem of the drug culture in this country being allowed to propagate. the people who have the ability to stop this are sitting on their hands. and this country is being inundated by all of these problems which are crushing us. and what are the politicians doing? they're dragging in more problems over that border. the police chief of syracuse, new york, what do you want to do about it? pray for us. pray for us? no, go get rid of the drug dealers and the criminals and there's going to be a lot of violence involved in that.

but look at the violence going on today. >> it's dan in new york. this is tom in flint, michigan. good morning. >> how are you doing? um, i think the police should be held accountable. there's too much lying on reports, covering up. and it's like they get a smack on the wrist when they do these things. and it's like they should be held accountable when they lie and they do all this crooked stuff. they should be held accountable. >> and, tom, what's the best way to do that? >> -- in prison. if everybody giving you this trust and taking your word and you tell a lie and you put somebody in prison because of a lie, you need to be punished for that. and without accountability, nothing's going to change. >> and one of the arguments by those in favor of police reform is something that could add

accountability, eliminating qualified immunity, allowing police officers to be sued in a civil capacity for damages. it's a part of the george floyd justice and policing act. here's some of the provisions of the george floyd justice and policing act. prohibiting racial profiling by law enforcement. banning chokeholds and no-knock warrants. limiting the transfer of military-grade equipment. requiring the use of body cameras by police. making it easier to prosecute offending officers. enables individuals to recover damages in civil court, that's the qualified immunity aspect. and collecting data on police misconduct and use of force. it's a larger bill even than that. those are just some of the provisions in that bill. democrats in the house passing that bill back in early march on a mostly party line vote. it's awaiting action in the senate. that's senate action awaiting the ongoing discussions between senator tim scott, senator cory booker, congresswoman karen bass leading negotiations on the democratic side.

and we'll see what happens with police reform in this country. but we're asking you about this anniversary of george floyd's death, what it's meant to you, what it's meant to the country over the past year when it comes to policing and racial bias in communities. shepherd is in macon, georgia. good morning. >> good morning. good morning, sir. thank you for allowing me to be on your show. i have to be fair with you, i was born and raised in the bronx, new york city. i recently just moved to macon, georgia. so, a majority of my opinion comes from my life in new york city. and in new york city i have been personally mistreated by the nypd there. when george floyd died at the hands of the police officers, that broke my heart, i watched the court case, and i cried every time i watched it. i couldn't watch it anymore because it brought back so many

bad memories. police have to be held accountable. police have to stop thinking that they're above the law. police have to stop thinking that they are the judge, jury, and executioners. and as long as police unions like the ones in new york city is allowing these officers or supporting these type of policing habits and behaviors, then there won't be change. until the politicians who really, really clamp down on these police unions that protect back police officers, there won't be change. >> that's shepherd in macon, georgia, this morning. shepherd said he watched the trial of derek chauvin and the murder of george floyd. this was president biden after that verdict was announced. >> it was a murder in the full light of day, and it ripped the

blinders off for the whole world to see the systemic racism the vice president just referred to. there is systemic racism that's a stain on our nation's soul. the knee on the neck of justice for black americans, the found fear and trauma, the pain, the exhaustion that black and brown americans experience every single day. the murder of george floyd launched a summer of protest we hadn't seen since the civil rights era in the '60s. protests that unified people of every race and generation with peace and with purpose to say enough, enough, enough of this senseless killings. today, today's verdict is a step forward. i just spoke with the governor of minnesota who thanked me for the close work with his team.

and i also spoke with george floyd's family again. remarkable family of extraordinary courage. nothing can ever bring their brother, their father back. but this can be a giant step forward in the march toward justice in america. >> that was president biden last month. i now want to take you back a year ago former president trump speaking about the death of george floyd last may his remarks as the protests began, this was former president trump. >> the death of george floyd on the streets of minneapolis was a grave tragedy. it should never have happened. it has filled americans all over the country with horror, anger,

and grief. yesterday i spoke to george's family and expressed the sorrow of our entire nation for their loss. i stand before you as a friend and ally to every american seeking justice and peace, and i stand before you in firm opposition to anyone exploiting this tragedy to loot, rob, attack, and menace. healing, not hatred, justice, not chaos, are the mission at hand. >> president trump just about a year ago. this morning and today in washington we're expecting george floyd's family to be at the white house meeting with president trump to mark the one-year anniversary of his death in minnesota and minneapolis last year. this is cecil in alexandria, virginia. cecil, go ahead. >> thank you for giving me the

opportunity to express my thought. i think we have a depravity of culture where so many unfortunate white individuals promote false theories. in world war ii over millions of people were killed and in the various wars of america where people were taken down to a watery grave that they want to blame black folks in their community contributing to great homicides although they have guns manufactured by the arms merchants. and they promote, import, or export weapons of death around the world. they don't touch upon those points. but they always want to put their hands around the necks of the victims. the tragedy of george floyd primarily came as a result of

these police officers and a series of them pinned down. they had witnesses that gave accounting of the stages from his life which during that time drugs did not kill him, but the contents pressing down on his neck and his ability to breathe documented by the coroner is what took his life. but you have some white individuals coming online saying that it was drugs that finally ended his existence. so, i think it's a great tragedy of the american culture. look at all the trees in my lifetime that disappeared, the animals that used to roam widely disappearing. and the pollution being poured in the air, which may result in the extinction of mankind as a whole. >> that's cecil in alexandria. this is ron out of san clemente, california. good morning. >> good morning, john. good morning, john, good to see you again. i've got a few thoughts, if you

just give me a minute here. you know, rodney king was a seminal moment in american history because people were able to actually see police brutality at an extreme rate. the george floyd experience has been a similar moment when there was no denying that there was just incredible wrongdoing by not one police person but a concert, three or four. anyway, having said that, let's go to the actual reasons why we have problems with our police in this country. one of them is that most people don't get involved in the process. that means, you know, police academies are around our country, are the finest way for people to get empathy for our police departments that you could possibly achieve. when you have -- when you actually go to a police academy

and you experience ride-alongs and you see what the police have to face every single day, you get incredible empathy for our police departments and what kind of challenges are out there. it's life and death for them every day. >> have you ever done a ride-along? >> you betcha. i went to a citizens academy with my wife many years ago, and it was the finest moments of my life. we got to shoot police firearms. we got to ride in helicopters. we got to do ride-alongs, we got the entire thing. it's very, very important because you have a complete empathy for what these guys are going through. now, how many black people actually go through police academies? i don't know, but there should be a lot that go into those things. the second thing that's most important about all of this is called a consent decree. when an actual department goes through a bad phase like it did

in new york city and ferguson, missouri, and nothing is done, and the police chief is not held accountable, you have a problem there where the federal police have to come in and look at that and say you need to change your act. and when that's not done, ferguson actually caused the george floyd death. >> so, the justice department has announced a pattern or practice investigation into the minneapolis police department under the biden administration. that is happening now and ongoing. do you think that's going to help? >> john, john, listen to me. that's a start, that's a start. this should be around the whole country. there's one other last item that you have to listen to. it's very, very important. and that is that do you remember what police used to look like in this country when it was adam 12 and you were watching police departments and police stories and all those great shows that were on tv.

the guys did not weigh 300 pounds. the cops did not weigh 300 pounds. they were 182 pounds to 195 pounds. they were in great shape and they were able to -- and they actually were police officers. >> that's ron out of california this morning. we mentioned president biden meeting with george floyd's family today at the white house. that's happening expected on the president's schedule at 1:30 p.m. eastern time. keep an eye on c-span listings today if there is some sort of public part of that event, we'll of course bring that to you from the white house pool as well. so stay with us throughout the day as we hope you always do. kirk in athens, alabama. good morning, you're next. >> hi, good morning. can you hear me? >> yes, sir. >> oh, sorry, i need to mute my tv. let me ask the audience, does

anybody think that four police officers with an audience of spectators would keep their knee on the neck of a white man for any reason for anything he had done and ignore people's pleas to give the man an opportunity to breathe and be arrested and taken to jail? the man was in handcuffs and he wasn't resisting. and that was four people on the man. one on his neck, another on his back, and some of them holding his legs. if that's not enough indication of the policing and the police brutality and racism toward black men and black people and people of color in general, i need to know what more do you need to see? now, all this emphasis is put on the lives of policemen and their split-second decisions and this nonsense about bad apples. truth be told, everyone knows and everybody can see, including the world, going back to

katrina, going back to emit till and going back to slavery. black people's experience in this country has been terrorism, terrorism from the system, education, housing, you name it. >> kirk, has anything changed in athens, alabama, in the past year, from what you've seen? >> no. and it's not going to so long as we have this system that says that police can make a split-second decision to take someone's life based on irrational racist fear. >> that's kirk in alabama this morning. this is the chair of the department of african-american studies at princeton university from today's "washington post," the headline of his column "it's painful to remember, we have to remember." he writes, we have to remember those 9 minutes and 29 seconds. we have to recall floyd's cries for his mother, his pleas for mercy. we have to confront the utter

disregard of chauvin's face and the complicity of the police officers around him. if we don't, western certainly forget. he says i suspect the country is desperate for some form of praise. we want to congratulate ourselves for how far we've come in doing what we should have done a long time ago and we want people especially black people to be grateful for our efforts to tinker around the edges. i pray, he writes, that this anniversary disrupts the national urge to pat ourselves on the back. all too often the rush to self-congratulate involves forgetting. we leave behind the dead and go about business as usual, content with ourselves as we are now. and the dead continue to pile up. today's "washington post." it was last june that george floyd's brother testified at house judiciary hearing committee on this idea of police reform in america. this is what he had to say. >> i can't tell you the kind of pain you feel when you watch something like that.

when you watch your big brother who you looked up to your whole entire life dye, dye begging for his mom, i'm tired, i'm tired of pain, pain you feel when you watch something like that. when you watch your big brother who you looked up to for your whole life die, die begging for his mom. i'm here to ask you to make it stop, stop the pain, stop us from being tired. george called for help, and he was ignored. please listen to the call i'm making to you now, to the calls of our family and the calls ringing out the streets across the world. people of all backgrounds, genders and races have come together to demand change. honor them, honor george and make the necessary changes that make law enforcement the solution and not the problem.

hold them accountable when they do something wrong, teach them what it means to treat people with empathy and respect. teach them what necessary force is, teach them that deadly force should be used rarely and only when life is at risk. george wasn't hurting anyone that day. he didn't deserve to die over $20. i am asking you is that what a black man is worth? $20? this is 2020. enough is enough. the people marching in the streets are telling you enough is enough. by the leaders that our country, the world needs the right thing. the people elected you to speak for them to make positive change. george's name means something. you have the opportunity here today to make your names mean something, too. if his death ends up changing

the world for the better, and i think it will, then he died as he lived. it is on you to make sure his death is not in vain. >> george floyd's brother philonise floyd last june. also looking for your comments on social media. here's a few of those. christopher woods writing in, police need to be better trained and more empathetic. and that means more training time and more funding, de-funding the police is antithetical to any and every way of how to fix this problem, it's nonsense. this from michael in florida. i'm familiar with risk versus rofrpd reward, but now democrats introduce a new version, resist equals reward. this from -- nothing is fundamentally changed. therefore there is no justice, therefore there should be no peace until we've ripped the

roots of the police out and plant a new idea, it's just going to keep happening. and derek saying i hope democrats don't do any deal without either getting rid of or at least serious changes to qualified immunity, talking about that deal on police reform that we're going to be talking more about throughout today's" washington journal." as we continue to watch what happens with some sort of bipartisan legislation that both sides can support. this is greg in mechanicsburg, pennsylvania. you're next this morning. go ahead. >> since. since george floyd died last year, remember a lot of things about that nine minutes. number one, he was saying he couldn't breathe when he was standing upright. and they tried to get him into the police car. what has happened since last end of may 2020, in my opinion, the

dnc and the house of representatives were ecstatic that george floyd died. it gave them the ammunition they needed, they thought they needed, probably part of why donald trump was not re-elected. george floyd was a useful tool for the democratic party and the house of representatives. it's just amazing to me to hear all these people talk about one side of this equation. the guy from san clemente was right. you go on -- i'm an attorney, i've done a lot of criminal defense. i can tell you that criminals are criminals. they don't do what george floyd did the first time. he was a career criminal. he had been doing things forever. why doesn't the mainstream media, if you want to investigate, you want to do a

9/11 commission on january 6th, do a 9/11 commission review of all of these incidents. >> now, derek chauvin is a criminal convicted by a jury of his peers of multiple counts of murder. >> multiple counts of murder. and guess what? what happened before the jury got the case? maxine waters threatened the jury. the president threatened the jury. that's what happened. >> that's greg in pennsylvania. this is david in reno, nevada. good morning. >> good morning. how are you doing today? >> i'm doing well. >> excellent. hey, thanks for taking all these questions. i just -- i'm going to go down the rabbit hole for a minute or two. and you might even hang up on me at some point in time. but here in 2021 it really feels like we're looking at distractions across the board. we're not really focusing on the big picture at altitude here when i hear racial/transgender,

climate change. no offense to george floyd, it's just brutal nine plus minutes. i remember living through the rodney king thing, just brutal. >> what should we be focusing on, david? >> what's that? >> what are we missing? what's the big picture that we should be focusing on, do you think? >> okay. so, they all seem like distractions to me. anti-semitism. if we look at where the money's coming from and look at it through the anti-semitic lens, it feels like, i don't know, when i look at the great reset and hear claus schwab talk about i'll own nothing and be happy and look at george soros funding blm and crazy stuff like that. when i look at the chaos map and then overlay it on the great reset map that claus schwab's been bragging about for some time now. >> tell you what, we're going to stick with the conversation about the anniversary of the death of george floyd and what it means in this country, especially on police reform.

terry lafayette, indiana, is next. >> good morning, sir, and everyone in america. yes, i feel that when the police were militarized, that was a big minus to our country. some facts i know, before they passed the prohibition of alcohol law, there was no alcohol gangs. before they passed the drug law, there were no drug gangs. the murder and crime rate went up 70% when they passed the alcohol law. the murder and crime rate went up 100% when they passed the drug laws. the murder rate went up 70% went down 70% when they repealed the alcohol law. it does not take a rocket scientist to understand what should be done about the drug laws. >> that's terry in indiana.

maxine, michigan. good morning. >> caller: good morning, john. my favorite commentator. this george floyd, i'm so sick of hearing of george floyd. you've got a drug addict, counterfeiter, resisting arrest and i watched the whole trial. that whole trial was political. there was nothing whatsoever about criminal. it was political. >> maxine, what do you think it means for this larger conversation about policing in america and what is fair, what isn't fair, what should be done? reflect on the past year? >> caller: to start with, chauvin followed police procedures with what he was taught to do. he didn't do anything that was out of what was described in his job description.

it was -- that trial was political. no way. there's no way you can deny it. george floyd was a drug addict with counterfeit money. now, if you want to put him up a sainthood, go ahead and do it. but that is not justice. that is not american justice. and i'm surprised that chauvin was convicted. but nevertheless, george floyd was not a saint. >> got your point, maxine. mark in massachusetts. good morning. >> caller: good morning, john. thank you. i think that police need to start leading by example. one thing that i see all the time that really has infuriated me more and more over the years is in massachusetts and a lot of states we have -- you can only tint cars to a certain degree.

if it's too dark, they'll be pulled over. all the police and firemen are the guys now with the tinted windows. in addition, i want to bring up one thing about the new labor secretary -- >> mark, let's not do labor secretary or tinted windows. let's talk about the topic at hand. what's changed in this country and about race and policing. >> caller: i wanted to say that i think police need to start leading by what she should do and that you can't keep the thin blue line and protecting people who aren't -- who disobey the law in boston, john, we had a situation where they were covering up for a pedophile police officer and he became the head of a police union. i think police unions need to be dissolved. i was following some union twitter accounts in new york city last year, benevolent

patrolmen, they were calling people names on verified accounts on twitter. these are people who are supposed to be protecting and serving. >> later today, at about 9:30, we'll be joined by the former president of the international association of chiefs on police. talk to him about this issue of police reform and the proposals that have been made on capitol hill. we'll get his responses. steven katz is his name. the senate committee on the judiciary subcommittee on the constitution today will come to order. i thank all of our witnesses for being here, ranking member cruz coming. i apologize for the delay. we had a vote and i thank also