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Senate Democrats stood in silence for almost 10 minutes on Thursday morning to honor the memories of African-Americans killed in recent racially-charged incidents.
And five lawmakers, including Sens. Michael Bennet (Colo.), Sherrod Brown (Ohio), Martin Heinrich (N.M.), Tim Kaine (Va.) and Chris Van Hollen (Md.), took to their knees for the symbolic eight minutes and 46 seconds of silence before the caucus meeting inside the Capitol’s Emancipation Hall, in a symbolic nod to the length of time that Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee on George Floyd’s neck.
Floyd was pronounced dead not long afterward. His killing — along with the untimely deaths of Ahmaud Arbury, who was shot by two white men while jogging in Georgia, and Breonna Taylor, who was shot by Louisville police in a skirmish in her own home after officers entered without warning to deliver a search warrant — have spurred 11 days of protests and demonstrations around the world demanding justice and an end to racism and police brutality.
“George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor,” Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) said after the silence. “May we honor those dead by protecting all who are alive.”
Watch it here:
This was the first time that the Senate Democratic Caucus has met in-person since the coronavirus pandemic led to canceling many in-person gatherings.
On Wednesday afternoon, the murder charge against officer Chauvin, who was caught on video kneeling on Floyd’s neck for almost nine minutes, was upgraded to second-degree murder, while the other three officers at the scene were charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
And the three men who were charged with murder months after the fatal shooting of Ahmaud Arbery faced a hearing before a judge on Thursday to determine whether authorities have enough evidence to bring them to trial.
In Taylor’s case, Louisville Metro Police Chief Steve Conrad, who announced his resignation in May, was fired on Monday. The three officers involved have been placed on administrative reassignment, and the internal investigation into the case has ben handed over to the state attorney general’s office.
