The broadest protests in US history have literally brought leading Democrats to their knees in the last few days. But that’s probably about all we’re going to get from them.

A week or so ago, liberals expressed understandable fears of American fascism: armed white vigilantes were joining with police, backed up by the president, to squash constitutionally protected free speech and even kill at least eleven protesters. Luckily, mass protests in a hundred US cities have beaten back police riots and repressive curfews while winning majority public support. Some cities are now reluctantly considering cutting police budgets, and multiple mayors are facing significant pushback, even calls to resign for using curfews and police to crush peaceful protest.

Americans’ political consciousness has shifted thanks to a million angry protesters in the streets. In response, Democrats in Congress introduced a suite of reforms. Inspired by the #8cantwait campaign, Democrats’ proposals include a ban on chokeholds (something that wouldn’t have stopped the murder of Eric Garner, whose killer used an already banned chokehold), ending no-knock warrants in drug cases, and create a national registry for tracking police misconduct.