Five years have passed since George Floyd was murdered in the street, gasping for air under the knee of a police officer. His final words, “I can’t breathe,” were captured on video by a teenager and broadcast to the world. Protesters filled the streets. Politicians made bold promises. Many believed real change was finally coming. But here we are in 2025, and it is painfully clear that the system has not changed. If anything, it has doubled down.
Police violence has not decreased. It has intensified. Black Americans remain far more likely to be stopped, searched, assaulted, or killed by police. The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, introduced in 2021 with promises of reform, is still stalled in Congress. It has not been passed. It has not been forgotten. It has been ignored. Lawmakers have allowed the moment to fade, and with it, any meaningful federal accountability.
Even worse, the federal government is actively working against reform. On April 28, 2025 President Trump signed Executive Order 14288, instructing law enforcement to act more aggressively in the name of protecting citizens. The order uses the word “unleash.” That is not accidental. Legal expert Christy Lopez, writing for Lawfare, warned that the language and the policy reflect a deliberate move toward policing that is militarized, politically driven, and unchecked by democratic standards. According to Lopez, the term “unleashing” suggests the removal of restraints, both legal and ethical, on police behavior. That is not safety. That is authoritarianism.
This approach is not neutral. It targets Black and brown communities first and hardest. Police already show up in these neighborhoods with force, suspicion, and fear. Now, they are being told to act without limits. We know what that leads to. It leads to more deaths, more trauma, and more families destroyed by a system that sees them as threats rather than citizens.
And this is not just about race. Mental illness is another factor that turns routine encounters into fatal ones. People with untreated mental health issues are 16 times more likely to be killed during a police interaction. The system punishes vulnerability. It criminalizes survival.
As activist Shamell Bell once said, “It is impossible to be unarmed when our blackness is the weapon they fear.” That fear is now codified into national policy. That fear is driving the resurgence of state violence under the banner of law and order.
Enough is enough and we do not need any more symbolic gestures. We need legislation that holds police accountable. We need power returned to communities. We need to stop treating public safety like a war to be won.
Until then, George Floyd’s words still echo. We still can’t breathe.
Excellent