[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 163 (Tuesday, November 3, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1575-E1576]
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, November 2, 2015

  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today as a proud member of the 
Congressional Black Caucus to participate in this special order hour on 
``Saving Our Communities'' and to discuss how we can work together to 
address the militarization of law enforcement, the high rate of arrest 
of our African American youth in our school systems, and the importance 
of criminal justice reform.
   First, let me thank my colleague Congresswoman Robin Kelly, for 
organizing this special order and for her continued leadership on so 
many issues, especially as chair of the CBC's Health Braintrust. Her 
leadership is so critical for these important discussions.
   Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to speak about our broken criminal 
justice system and how its institutional biases overwhelmingly and 
negatively affect African Americans. Black bodies are criminalized, our 
police forces are becoming more and more militarized and we see 
astronomical arrest rates amongst African American youth.
   From the East Bay to New York City, we see a common story of African 
Americans living in a different version of America. Their version is 
one filled with fear, distrust, and vicious cycles of incarceration, 
unemployment, poverty and recidivism.
   Mass incarceration and a lack of reintegration policies have greatly 
hurt African American communities and I am frankly tired of waiting for 
``the people's'' house to act.
   For too long, we have ignored issues affecting African American 
communities. It is time to do the good work needed to save our 
communities. Let's pass criminal justice reform, end the militarization 
of our police forces, and work so that no student will have to go 
through what that young woman in South Carolina went through.
   I applaud the President for his announcement today, and his bold and 
continued leadership to advance criminal justice reform. Yet much work 
remains to be done.
   The cycle of incarceration and recidivism start early for African 
American students. The school to prison pipeline is very real and it 
pushes young people into prisons before they even have a chance.
   While black students represent just 18 percent of preschool 
enrollment, they account for 42 percent of preschool student 
expulsions. We are talking about kids that are 2-5 years old--these 
kids don't even get a start, let alone a head start.
   This carries over to high-school. Look at the incident at Spring 
Valley High school in South Carolina--it speaks to issues around black 
criminalization and the unnecessary escalation of discipline for 
African American students.
   Having a phone out in class does not warrant a police call, and it 
certainly does not justify a student--a child, really--from being 
thrown out of a chair and dragged across a classroom floor.
   Yet we see today that young African American girls are disciplined 
10.5 times more than their white counterparts. Black girls are expelled 
and suspended at higher rates as well--what is going on?
   We live in a country where black and brown youth are punished more 
often and more severely than their white counterparts. Yet few seem to 
raise an eyebrow at these gross disparities--disparities that have 
landed thousands of young people in jail, without hope and without a 
future.
   As the mother of black men and the grandmother of two black boys, I 
find statistics like that troubling. For African Americans, we have 
allowed our school system to be turned into a prison pipeline. We must 
act now to stop it.
   The sad thing about the Spring Valley incident is that this is not 
the first time we have seen students be brutalized at school. And while 
I commend the police department for firing this out of line officer and 
applaud the Justice Department for investigating, more must be done to 
prevent these miscarriages of justice.
   We must address the systemic issues facing our education and 
criminal justice systems.
   Nationwide, our local police forces have become increasingly 
militarized. Images from the unrest in Ferguson caused an outcry as we 
saw citizens being repelled by police officers in tanks. It looked like 
a scene from a battlefield than the streets of a suburban Missouri 
town.
   For too long excess military equipment has been sent to local 
jurisdictions with the obligation to use them within one year. Weapons 
of war have no place on Main Street.
   That is why I am a proud co-sponsor of the Stop Militarizing Law 
Enforcement Act (H.R. 1232) a bipartisan bill that reins in the 
transfer of military equipment to civilian law enforcement agencies.
   Instead of finding ways to arm our police forces, let's find ways to 
provide them with greater racial sensitivity training and work to build 
greater trust between law enforcement and the communities in which they 
serve.
   That is why I introduced H. Res. 262, a resolution supporting 
community-oriented policing and encouraging greater diversity in law 
enforcement hiring and retention.
   Our local law enforcement agencies must reflect the communities they 
serve.
   Finally Mr. Speaker, it is past time that we tackle criminal justice 
reform. The President made some bold announcements today but Congress 
must act.
   Let us ban the box, implement policies that increase integration, 
and address issues of income inequality and poverty that keep too many 
people and families trapped in a cycle of mass incarceration, 
unemployment, poverty and recidivism.
   Systemic and institutional racial biases have broken our criminal 
justice system and eroded trust between law enforcement and the 
communities that they serve.
   Thoughtful criminal justice reform is what is necessary to mend 
these relationships and work to ``save our community'' from the inside 
and out.
   I am proud to be a member of the CBC's Ferguson Task Force that is 
putting forth real, actionable legislation that should come forward for 
an immediate vote--
   Legislation like the Police Accountability Act (H.R. 1102) and the 
Grand Jury Reform Act (H.R. 429, which together would ensure that 
deadly force cases are heard by a judge and ensure police 
accountability by expanding the DOJ's power to persecute cases.

[[Page E1576]]

   Let's work to save these communities. Let's end excessive force in 
our schools, work to stop the decriminalization of black bodies, and 
find effective solutions to the end the school to prison pipeline.

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