The state of policing, a year after George Floyd's death

Americans gather to recognize the first anniversary of George Floyd's death; Antony Blinken travels to bolster the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Tonight's Sentences was written by Gregory Svirnovskiy. TOP NEWS One year later Kerem Yucel/AFP via Getty Images - The intersection where George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police one year ago on May 25 is scheduled to be transformed into a festival, with food, musical performances, and children’s activities. With the recent guilty verdict for former police officer Derek Chauvin, Floyd's family members have continued their calls to address larger systemic issues in policing. [[Associated Press / Doug Glass](] - In Washington, DC, Floyd's family met with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. Floyd’s brother, Philonese, spoke alongside House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other lawmakers, imploring Congress to act quicker on police reform. [[Associated Press / Alexandra Jaffe and Alan Fram](] - Floyd’s killing touched off a summer of protest and social awakening seldom seen before in American history. Millions marched; one in 12 parents reported their teen attended a protest last year. Terms like “abolition” and “defunding the police” entered the American cultural ethos. [[Vox / Mary Retta](] - Institutional change came alongside the facts. A March 2020 study by Northeastern University found that Black Americans are twice as likely to be shot dead by police officers. In Floyd, and in Breona Taylor and Rayshard Brooks, among others, those statistics are given names and faces. [[ABC News / Bill Hutchinson and Jordan Kranse](] - Some cities have installed major reforms to their policing institutions. In August, the city of Austin defunded its police budget by a full third. Portland put into place special police accountability boards; activists and politicians in Minneapolis are now looking to rewrite their city charter and fully dismantle the police department. [[Vox / Sean Collins](] - Bipartisan negotiators are currently working in the Senate on changes to the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, passed by House Democrats in March, to attract needed Republican support. Debate over ending qualified immunity for officers in civil suits stands as the biggest roadblock to a deal. [[CNBC / Jacob Pramuk](] [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( Blinken seeks to shore up Israel-Hamas ceasefire - Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem Tuesday, the first stop of a week-long tour through the Middle East which will take him to Gaza, Egypt and Jordan. He’s in the region to strengthen a shaky ceasefire. [[Reuters / Jeffrey Heller](] - Also on Tuesday, Blinken announced the reopening of the US consulate general in Jerusalem, which had been closed by the Trump administration. The consulate general has long served as a key conduit in relations with the Palestinians; the move signifies diplomatic overtures from the Biden administration. [[Associated Press / Joseph Krauss](] - So too will the $75 million in “significant contributions” Blinken said America will make to the rebuilding of the strip. The secretary of state said the Biden team “would work to ensure that Hamas does not benefit from the aid,” a tall task considering the control Hamas exerts throughout Gaza. [[CNN / Ivana Kottasová, Jennifer Hansler, and Richard Allen Greene](] - At least 253 Palestinians were killed in 11 days of Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, which touched off after Hamas fired rockets at the southern part of the state in response to the forced eviction of Palestinians from East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. 14 Israelis were killed by Hamas rocket fire. [[CBS News / Tucker Reals and Haley Ott]]( - Blinken also met with Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz and Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday. They spoke on ensuring long-term peace in Israel while strengthening the Palestinian Authority, a group that recognizes Israel as a state but has little power over Gaza or Palestinians. [[Haaretz / Ben Samuels](] MISCELLANEOUS 39 percent of the American population is now fully vaccinated against Covid-19, as case rates continue to fall and the country edges closer to a post-epidemic normal. [[Los Angeles Times / Luke Money](] - The United States and Russia are working on an agreement to bring President Joe Biden and Russian Premier Vladimir Putin to a summit in Geneva next month. Relations have been rocky. [[CNN / Jeff Zeleny and Chandelis Duster](] - Cyclone Yaas will make contact with India in the early hours of Wednesday morning, just 10 days after Cyclone Tauktae killed almost 100 people in the country, as a Covid-19 resurgence continues. [[Washington Post / Matthew Capuccini](] - The European Union is imposing sanctions on Belarus and banning its airlines from using EU airspace in response to the country’s forced diversion of a passenger plane to arrest a dissident journalist Sunday. [[NPR / Vanessa Romo](] Support our journalism Reader contributions help keep Vox and newsletters like Sentences free for all. Support our work from as little as $3. [Contribute]( VERBATIM "Marjorie is wrong, and her intentional decision to compare the horrors of the Holocaust with wearing masks is appalling. Let me be clear: The House Republican Conference condemns this language." [[House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's (R-GA) statements comparing congressional mask-wearing rules to the Holocaust.](] WATCH THIS [Remember the insurrection?]( Some would rather forget. [[Spotify](] [Read more from Vox](#) [These 3 cities began boldly reimagining policing after George Floyd’s murder]( [The lingering threat of fall Covid-19 outbreaks]( [Any bipartisan January 6 commission is probably doomed]( [First-time activists on how last summer’s protests changed their lives]( [Paris Hilton’s sex tape was revenge porn. The world gleefully watched.]( [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [YouTube]( This email was sent to {EMAIL}. 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