The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“WALTER SCOTT AND POLICE VIOLENCE IN AMERICA: WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E535-E536 on April 21, 2015.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
WALTER SCOTT AND POLICE VIOLENCE IN AMERICA: WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
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HON. BARBARA LEE
of california
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
Ms. LEE. First, let me thank Congressman Jeffries for his leadership in hosting this important Special Order on a critical issue facing every single member of the House--the senseless murder of our young African American male constituents and the overmilitarization of our police forces.
My heart and prayers continue to go out to Walter Scott's family. Losing a loved one is always incredibly hard. But it is unbearable when a life is cut short.
The unfortunate truth is the tragic death of Walter Scott is another in a series of tragedies that remind us that, to some, the lives of young black men and women do not matter.
Tragedies like Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and Oscar Grant--one of my constituents--are far too common in communities across this country.
As the mother of two black men and two black grandsons, I have had many uncomfortable but necessary conversations about how to walk, how to talk and how to interact with police.
This is not just my reality. It is also the reality of millions of other black mothers and grandmothers.
Tonight, we stand here, once again, to discuss the ongoing failures of our criminal justice system and over-use of deadly force by law enforcement across the country.
In order to address the problem people need to know the facts.
I applaud President Obama's Task Force on 21st Century Policing.
The Task Force provided much needed recommendations, such as the creation of a National Crime and Justice Task Force that will review all components of the criminal justice system and provide recommendations on comprehensive criminal justice reform as well as renewed focus on community policing.
The unfortunate facts are since President Obama's Task Force on 21st Century Policing released its report; there have been more than 100 fatal police shootings in America.
Every 28 hours an African American male is killed by a security officer.
1 in 3 African American men and 1 in 6 Latino men will spend some part of their lives in prison.
The truth is that disparity and inequality continue at every level of our society, especially in our criminal justice system.
It's past time that Congress start enacting policies to dismantle the bias endemic in our institutions.
We must come together like never before to tackle the systemic, structural and rampant racial bias endemic in our institutions and criminal justice system.
We need to empower communities and work to build greater trust between law enforcement and the community, especially communities of color.
That is why Congress should pass the bipartisan Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act (H.R. 1232), which I am a proud cosponsor of, to stop the militarization of our nation's police forces.
We need to pass the Police Accountability Act (H.R. 1102) and the Grand Jury Reform Act (H.R. 429) so we can ensure that deadly force cases are heard by a judge and there is more accountability among police officers.
Congress should also work to pass the Shield Our Streets Act (H.R. 103) to increase investments in proven, community-orientated policing programs that reduce crime and increase community and law enforcement trust and understanding.
Congress must work with the Department of Justice to ensure training programs are available to ALL law enforcement officials to reduce racial bias and profiling and provide law enforcement officers with the resources to address, defuse and manage situations without the unnecessary use of deadly force.
We also must support funding programs that focus on increasing police force diversity and retention of qualified officers in communities. This is something that the President's Task Force recommended in its report.
It is vital that Congress acts to ensure the tragedies in Ferguson, Staten Island, Oakland--in my district--and now North Charleston are not repeated.
So I urge my colleagues to support these efforts that can end the structural injustice that is endemic in our criminal justice system.
These events must be our call to action--as Dr. King reminded us in his ``Two Americas'' speech in 1967.
He said: `We must come to see that social progress never rolls in on the wheels of inevitability. It comes through the tireless efforts and the persistent work of dedicated individuals.'
We must, each of us, be those dedicated individuals working persistently for the social progress that is so greatly needed.
Too much is at stake to do nothing--we must act and act now.
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