Racial Justice

The weight of injustice continues to burden our country. We will not heal unless we take action.

A relentless believer that “all people are created equal,” Jerry has spent his entire career fighting for civil rights and a more fair America. He has overseen efforts to protect voting rights from racist efforts to disenfranchise communities of color, and helped manage the House passage of the historic John Lewis Voting Rights Act. As Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Jerry worked to sign into law the Emmett Till Antilynching Act, which finally makes lynching an enhanced-penalty federal hate crime.

Jerry is a national leader in the effort to reform often violent and racially discriminatory policing practices. He co-sponsored the End Racial Profiling Act and after the brutal murder of George Floyd, Jerry was one of the key voices behind the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which would have banned police chokeholds, ended qualified immunity, and established a national police misconduct registry to prevent brutal police officers escaping accountability.
Jerry knows that to truly achieve racial justice, we must focus on restorative justice to correct a long legacy of discrimination. That’s why, when he introduced the MORE Act to federally decriminalize marijuana, he ensured that it included key provisions to deliver opportunities to the communities of color that disproportionately suffered due to the War on Drugs. As we do the hard work of building a brighter future, we cannot ignore the sins of the past–or we are certain to repeat them again.

  1. Defending our Democracy
  2. Delivering for New Yorkers
  3. Disability Rights
  4. Women’s Rights
  5. LBGTQIA+ Rights
  6. Healthcare
  7. Safeguarding the Environment
  8. 9/11 Survivors
  9. Immigration
  10. Israel
  11. Restoring Balance to the Supreme Court
  12. Legalizing Marijuana
  13. Limiting Corporate Power
  14. Protecting Reproductive Rights
  15. Racial Justice
  16. Reforming America’s Gun Laws