U.S. Del. Stacey Plaskett is among a growing list of Democrats pushing back on qualified immunity laws that protect law enforcement officials.
The resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement last summer and pledges by more than 100 companies to fight racism and police brutality and advance racial equity seem like lip service today. Police across the country are still killing Black men and women.
Plaskett, one of many Democrats fighting qualified immunity for police, described the protection as a “hood” for bad cops who she described as a modern-day Ku Klux Klan intimidating and killing Black Americans.
“Qualified immunity has in many instances become the hood for bad police officers to, in fact, act as modern-day Ku Klux Klan members against Black and Brown people in this country. And it has got to stop,” Plaskett told CNN on Saturday.
Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA) agrees with Plaskett as does former NYPD officer and New York City mayoral candidate Eric Adams.
Democrats and Republicans are trying to reach a compromise on a police reform bill. Democrats in the House of Representatives have passed the George Floyd Justice In Policing Act. The bill would limit qualified immunity to a defense in a private civil suit against a law enforcement or corrections officer.
The bill is a longshot as at least ten Republicans would have to support it, which is unlikely.
Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) told CNN she is unwilling to support any compromise bill that keeps qualified immunity intact.
“We compromise on so much. You know, we compromise, we die. We compromise, we die,” Bush told Abby Phillip on Inside Politics
when asked about the compromise on qualified immunity floated by Republican Sen. Tim Scott (D-SC) “I didn’t come to Congress to compromise on what could keep us alive. … If you don’t hurt people, if you don’t kill people, if you are just and fair in your work, then do you need the qualified immunity anyway?”