[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 4]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 5304]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 WALTER SCOTT AND POLICE VIOLENCE IN AMERICA: WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. BARBARA LEE

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 21, 2015

  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, 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.

                          ____________________