[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 147 (Thursday, December 4, 2014)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1736]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                            HON. BARBARA LEE

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, December 1, 2014

  Ms. LEE of California. Mr. Speaker, first, let me thank Congressmen 
Jeffries and Horsford for hosting this important Special Order. I 
appreciate your leadership in organizing these important discussions.
  We stand here tonight, once again, to talk about the ongoing and 
systematic failure of our justice system. I am deeply disappointed at 
last week's decision by the grand jury in Ferguson to not indict 
Officer Darren Wilson. I share the feelings of frustration, anger and 
disappointment by the recent decision.
  And the protests that have spread across the country are a testament 
to that frustration and anger.
  How many more deaths like Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Oscar Grant--
one of my constituents--Michael Brown, and Tamir Rice will be tolerated 
until America decides that black lives matter? How many more jail beds 
will be filled by black and brown men and boys until we realize America 
has a deep and long rooted systematic problem that must to be 
addressed? The killing of Michael Brown has, once again, confronted us 
with the systematic issues of racism and injustice that are endemic in 
our society.
  In a recently published op-ed in The Washington Post, Stacy Patton 
writes: ``Black America has again been reminded that its children are 
not worthy of being alive--in part because they are not seen as 
children at all, but as menacing threats to white lives.''
  Mr. Speaker, enough is enough.
  Disparity and inequality continue at every level of our society--a 
legacy born in the suffering of the Middle Passage, nurtured through 
slavery and preserved with Jim Crow. Today, we see this in the form of 
things like repressive voter ID laws, economic inequality, and mass 
incarceration.
  The African American poverty rate of 27.2 percent is more than two 
and half times the poverty rate of white Americans. The 10.9 percent 
unemployment rate among African American is nearly twice the national 
average.
  These statistics paint a clear picture of inequality in America yet 
we continue to ignore these disparities. This cannot continue.
  To quote Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. ``Law and order exist for the 
purpose of establishing justice and when they fail in this purpose they 
become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social 
progress.''
  Mr. Speaker--the only way we can remove the dam is by addressing the 
deep and long-rooted structures that continue to disproportionately 
affect people of color.
  And Congress is the body in which to do it. We were sent to 
Washington by our constituents to address the issues facing our 
nation--let's start working on the structural and racial biases that 
pervade our institutions.
  I applaud the President for calling for a $263 million spending 
package to reform police departments. But much more work remains to 
done.
  We have a duty to pick up the banner carried by Rosa Parks, Martin 
Luther King, and Medger Evers, to ensure that our children and our 
children's children can live in a world free of ignorance, 
discrimination and racism.
  That is why we must pass legislation that will require the Department 
of Justice to support training programs for police departments to 
reduce racial bias and profiling. We need legislation and funding 
programs that focuses on diversity hiring and retention of officers in 
communities that need them the most. We need to pass legislation like 
H.R. 5478, the Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act, of which I am a 
proud cosponsor.
  As a nation, we have made progress against racism but we are 
backsliding.
  We are losing the prize that our forefathers and mothers fought, bled 
and died to obtain and preserve. We must stand together--stronger than 
ever--to raise our voices, march in the streets, and cast our ballots 
demanding change. The soul of our nation is at stake.
  The American dream of equality, freedom, liberty, justice and life 
for all can and should be more than just words. It should be a promise 
to all Americans, regardless of the color of their skin or where they 
were born.
  It should mean that for every mother or father, regardless of their 
race or socio-economic status, that they can look across the dinner 
table from their son or daughter and know that they can and will have a 
better life than their parents. That they will be protected and judged 
equally under the law. That their son or daughter will be at the table 
again tomorrow night.
  A world where justice for all is fulfilled.

                          ____________________