Dear Friend,

In the spring, I emailed you in response to the protests condemning the killing of Black Americans by police.

I promised to update you with the actions that my colleagues and I were taking in response to communities crying out for change.

Last week, as my colleagues in the House were finally able to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, a reform bill that would ban chokeholds and alter so-called qualified immunity for law enforcement, making it easier to pursue claims of police misconduct, I could not escape the fact that systemic brutality and violence used against the Black community must end.

Each name, each person is a loss of life in a family, in a community, and in our country. Each loss is incalculable.

We need only 10 Republican senators to join us to pass this bill. I hope you will add your name to mine and call on them to act to end systemic racism and violence by law enforcement.

This is not an intellectual exercise in injustice.

GOP leadership stalls and impedes action, so we have a responsibility to continue to fight for justice and equity. We cannot allow them to obstruct progress any longer.

We should never again see communities harmed and brutalized by those who are meant to serve and protect them.

As I work to hold leaders in Washington and Pennsylvania accountable for inaction, I hope you'll join me in calling on Republican senators to pass this legislation by adding your name to mine.

In solidarity,

Madeleine