Philonise Floyd, brother of George Floyd, fist-bumps Ben Crump, civil rights attorney representing the Floyd family, after speaking during a hearing on Capitol Hill on Wednesday. Brendan Smialowski/Pool/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Updated at 11:06 a.m. ET
The House Judiciary Committee is hearing testimony Wednesday on racial profiling and police brutality as the House prepares to vote on a wide-ranging set of police reforms proposed by Democrats.
The hearing is the first public congressional meeting on policing following the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis on May 25. Floyd's brother Philonise Floyd was the first witness to speak.
Democrats have promised to hold hearings to shine light on the lost trust between communities of color and the police as part of a broader plan to overhaul law enforcement policies. Wednesday's hearing is the beginning of that effort in the House.
Philonise Floyd appeared before the panel one day after laying his brother to rest. He told committee members that "by speaking to you today, maybe I can make sure his life was not in vain." He said his brother was so mild-mannered that he called the Minneapolis police officers " 'sir' as he begged for his life."
"I'm tired of pain, pain you feel when you watch something like that, when you watch your big brother, who you've looked up to your whole life, die. Die begging for your mom," he said.
Floyd said if his brother's death "ends up changing the world for the better, and I think it will, then he died as he lived."
Democrats also asked for testimony from Floyd family attorney Ben Crump; Sherrilyn Ifill, the president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund; and several others.
In their opening statements, members of the panel staked out their positions on the state of policing. Both sides condemned the killing of Floyd.
Democrats talked about their proposed police reform bill. Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., said, "George Floyd would be alive today" if the Democrat's bill had been the law because it would ban police use of chokeholds.
Republicans stressed that "there was a big difference between peaceful protests and rioting," said Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and condemned Democrats for failing to denounce calls to defund the police, calling such proposals "pure insanity."
Republicans have called three witnesses: Dan Bongino, a conservative radio show host and adviser to President Trump; Pastor Darrell Scott, the co-founder of Trump's National Diversity Coalition; and Angela Underwood Jacobs, a member of the Lancaster, Calif., city council and former congressional candidate.
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