What Has, And Has Not, Changed In VA Since George Floyd's Death

VIRGINIA — Two years ago, on May 25, 2020, George Floyd died while gasping for air under the knee of Derek Chauvin, a veteran Minneapolis police officer.

Chauvin's knee pinned Floyd to the asphalt for 9 minutes and 29 seconds. Floyd's death, seen by millions around the globe thanks to a bystander's viral video from the scene, ignited a movement for police reform and racial justice across Virginia and the nation.

As reform measures stalled at the federal level, scores of police oversight and reform bills passed at the state level in Virginia and in other states.

Virginia lawmakers approved an array of police reform bills in the year after Floyd's killing. Among the bills signed into law was one that prohibited police officers from using a chokehold on a person unless it is "immediately necessary to protect the law-enforcement officer or another person."

Lawmakers also passed a bill banning no-knock warrants, prohibiting police from serving search or arrest warrants without first knocking and announcing themselves.

Since an expanded law went into effect in March 2021, 68 police officers, jail officers, and deputy sheriffs in Virginia have been decertified for various acts of misconduct and criminal offenses, the Associated Press reported.

The new laws expanded the reasons for decertification and tightened rules requiring law enforcement agencies to share personnel files to prevent officers who commit misconduct from getting jobs with other police departments.

The election of Republican Glenn Youngkin as governor in November 2021 stalled some measured aimed at creating greater accountability for police in the state. But other reform measures continue to be enacted.

In April, Youngkin signed bipartisan legislation that prohibits ticket and arrest quotas for Virginia’s law enforcement agencies. That legislation came after a Virginia bill was signed into law in 2020 — after Floyd's killing — that made Virginia the first state to prohibit pulling over drivers based on minor driving violations, such as having tinted windows or a broken taillight.

Among his moves against police reform, Youngkin vetoed a bill earlier this year that would allow the Arlington County Board to appoint an independent auditor to investigate police misconduct.

The veto targeted a bill that drew bipartisan support in the House of Delegates. Under current law, the Arlington County manager is allowed to hire a police auditor; the bill Youngkin vetoed would have given that power to the five-member county board instead.

Arlington County officials believed it would be a conflict of interest for the county manager to oversee both the chief of police and the police auditor. But Youngkin said removing the county manager as the boss of the police auditor would have unfairly affected police officers.

At the federal level, President Joe Biden has shifted away from talking about police reform and has turned to using language more reminiscent of almost three decades ago, when he helped pass the 1994 crime bill. Biden is now emphasizing how localities should use COVID-19 pandemic-relief funding to expand the ranks of police departments.

"Along with ongoing state and local support from the Justice Department, American Rescue Plan investments made 2021 among the largest single-year commitments of federal resources for state and local law enforcement and public safety on record," the White House said earlier this month.

Racial Justice

In 2020, Floyd’s death ignited a summer of both Black Lives Matter protests against police brutality that spurred many of the reforms. Chauvin was convicted of all counts against him, including second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Chauvin was sentenced to 22½ years in prison.

The racial reckoning that followed Floyd's death had deep impacts in Virginia, as the state sought to end the celebration of its Confederate past.

The state-owned Robert E. Lee Monument on Richmond's Monument Avenue was removed. Many other symbols celebrating the Confederacy also were taken down across the state after the death of George Floyd. Virginia officials removed 71 Confederate symbols in 2020, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

In February, Fairfax County’s Confederate Names Task Force presented a report to the board of supervisors with recommendations to rename Lee Highway (Route 29) and Lee-Jackson Highway (Route 50).

The protests over Floyd's killing also prompted a new conversation about structural racism in the United States. This new focus caused a backlash, though, with groups accusing public school systems of teaching an academic framework called critical race theory.

Critical race theory is an academic framework, usually taught in universities, which is based on the idea that racism is embedded in American institutions, creating persistent systemic inequalities.

Use of the term skyrocketed, with some conservative parents group using it as a catch-all term for racial equity and diversity initiatives in public schools.

Youngkin jumped on the anti-critical race theory bandwagon, issuing an executive order on his first day in office in January that banned the use of critical race theory or related "inherently divisive concepts" in the state's public schools.

The Youngkin administration also set up an email address for parents and students to report any type of teachings or practices in public schools across the state that they feel are "inherently divisive," a move that educators say has had a chilling effect on the teaching of history and other subjects in the state.

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