Kaine Cosponsors Reforms To Address Racial Inequality & Injustice

Press Release

Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine announced a package of bills he's supporting in Congress to address racial inequality and injustice, including legislation to reform the criminal justice system, reduce disparities in health care and education, and help close the systemic economic gaps that have only been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic.

"For centuries, our nation has preached equality as our cardinal virtue while burdening African Americans with systemic inequality. The horrific murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, together with the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on both the health and economic conditions of African Americans, have laid bare the continuing challenges of racism in America," Kaine said. "Local, state, and federal government policy--enforced by our courts--formed the architecture of inequality in this country and though, in very recent history, some racist practices have ended, our government has never been made accountable for these longstanding practices or been forced to uproot that which it so carefully built over multiple generations. As a civil rights lawyer and elected official in a very diverse city, I have tried my best to battle against such injustice, but see clearly that those efforts have been insufficient. So I need to do more by not just introducing or supporting bills that don't pass, but demanding that Congress pass comprehensive legislation to address longstanding inequalities. All Americans will benefit if this country gets serious about truly dismantling the painful architecture of discrimination against African Americans that began on Virginia soil more than 400 years ago.

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