‘Squad’ Member Senators Re-Introduce Helping Families Heal Act On Michael Brown’s 28th Birthday

Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) worked with Democratic Reps. Jamaal Bowman (N.Y.), Bonnie Watson Coleman (N.J.), Jesus “Chuy” Garcia (Ill.) and Rashida Tlaib (Mich.) to revise and reintroduce legislation aimed at families affected by police violence. 

The Helping Families Heal Act

was first proposed by Bush in September 2022 and was reintroduced on May 20 – which would have been the 28th birthday of Michael Brown, an unarmed Black teenager who was killed in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014 by a police officer at just 18-years-old. Bowman announced the partnership on Twitter while celebrating Brown’s birthday. “Today, Mike Brown would be 28. Instead, he was killed by a police officer at 18 years old,” he tweeted. 

With Brown’s death being a staple of the Black Lives Matter movement, the measure would create grant programs within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) with the goal of establishing or expanding disadvantaged communities’ reach in funding resources with mental health programs to support victims, families and students impacted by police brutality. 

If passed into law, the act would hire, train, and send mental health professionals and community health workers out in order to provide services

to anyone suffering from trauma or grief after witnessing or being the victim of police violence. Violence is defined in the legislation as persons who have been personally affected or those who may have lost loved ones from such violence. 

In addition, the legislation would invest in programs that help to identify and treat intergenerational trauma as a result of police brutality.

Bush worked with Brown’s mother, Lezley McSpadden, to create the legislation, according to First Alert 4. In a statement, the congresswoman said, “Together, we can help our families heal.”

“Police violence steals precious lives like Mike Brown and so many o

thers. The trauma and grief that it leaves in its wake contributes to mental health crises and disproportionately harms surviving family members, Black and brown communities, and young people,” she said. 

“I am proud to have worked together with Mike’s mother on this legislation, which is designed to save lives by supporting families in the aftermath of devastating police violence. Mike Brown should still be alive, and today, on his 28th birthday, we are honoring him by reintroducing this vitally needed legislation.”

Since Brown’s killing, a number of names have been added to a list of police brutality victims, including Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Tyre Nichols and more.