Congressional Black Caucus

Floor Speech

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Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished gentlewoman for yielding. And I also thank, of course, my good friend and colleague, Congressman Don Payne, from across the Hudson River, who does such a tremendous job of representing the people of Newark and Essex County.

It has been an honor and a privilege to watch my two colleagues during this year preside over the CBC Special Order hour, giving us, as a caucus, an opportunity to share with the American people some of our thoughts and ideas and the issues that we are working on to improve a lot of those that we represent in the African American community and all across this great, gorgeous mosaic in the United States of America.

I am troubled, of course, by the events of the last few days as relates to the Laquan McDonald case out of Robin Kelly's hometown in Chicago. About a year ago, many of us from the Congressional Black Caucus were on this very House floor talking about the failure to indict in the killing of Michael Brown; and in the same week, 3 days later, the failure to indict in the strangulation of Eric Garner, who, of course, was put into an unauthorized choke hold and killed as a result of allegedly selling loose cigarettes.

It, of course, highlighted the problem of African American men being killed at the hands of police officers, which is a decade-old problem that, hopefully, here in America we will find the courage one day to confront.

And now, of course, we are compelled to come to the House floor to deal with the tragedy of the Laquan McDonald case, a 17-year-old shot 16 times in 15 seconds by an officer who had 20 prior civilian complaints filed against him. I am no mathematician, but those numbers simply do not add up. The tape comes out and we see what occurred: an individual, Laquan, who was walking away from the officers, not toward the officers. There is no reasonable circumstance, I believe, that led to that individual being shot down like a dog on the streets of Chicago.

The officer has now been indicted 13 months later, and, hopefully, the justice system will run its course and the officer will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

I am here today to talk briefly about another troubling issue that relates to this problem of the police use of excessive force. That is not just the bad apples who engage in this behavior; it is the fact that, far too often, the police officers in the department, who may not otherwise engage in excessive force but who have grown up in a culture of a blue wall of silence, support these officers either with their inaction or, in some instances, by actively participating in a coverup.

Now, I know that is hard for a lot of Americans to hear because, listen, I also believe that the overwhelming majority of officers are hardworking individuals who are there to protect and serve.

I don't take lightly the fact that I am here concerned on the House floor that far too many officers stand by, tolerate, and enable the excessive use of force, sometimes resulting in American citizens being killed without justification.

This case actually highlights the problem. Laquan gets killed, and if you look at the reports in the immediate aftermath of his death last October--and I just pulled a few--here is what we were told.

``The suspect fled, and officers gave chase, police said. When the officers confronted him near 41st Street and Pulaski Road, he refused their orders to drop the knife and began walking toward the officers, police said.

``Pat Camden, spokesman for the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police, said the teen had a `crazed' look about him as he approached the officers with the knife.''

That was reported by CBS.

Let's go to NBC. ``Responding officers found a 17-year-old boy `with a strange gaze about him,' who was carrying a knife and wouldn't drop it when police ordered him to do so, Fraternal Order of Police spokesman Pat Camden said.

``Other officers used a squad car to try and box the boy in against a fence near West 41st Street and South Pulaski Road, Camden said. An officer shot him in the chest when the teen didn't drop the knife and continued to walk toward officers, police said.''

WGN-TV: ``Chicago police officers shot and killed a 17-year-old after a foot chase near 41st Street and Pulaski ..... Officers shot the teen after he waved the knife at them.''

In the interest of time, let me just read one more. This is from the Chicago Tribune: ``Officers got out of their car and began approaching McDonald, again telling him to drop the knife, Camden said. The boy allegedly lunged at the officers, and one of them opened fire.''

`` `When police tell you to drop a weapon, all you have to do is drop it.' ''

I mean, Shakespeare would be proud at the fiction that was put out there to justify the murder of this 17-year-old.

Here is what is worse. It has now been reported that in the immediate aftermath of the shooting four or five officers went to a nearby Burger King and asked to view the surveillance tape. The manager at Burger King gives them the password to the video. They spend a couple of hours in Burger King--I mean, a couple of hours in Burger King, allegedly--and then they leave.

Then internal affairs officers apparently come in the days afterward, and they pull the tape. Guess what? Eighty-six minutes are missing. It happens to be the 86 minutes that cover the period of time when Laquan McDonald was killed.

When we come to the House floor and people across the country say Black lives matter and they are concerned about the lack of justice in the system, understand that it is not just the excessive use of force; it is the fact that far too many officers, law enforcement folks, participate actively in covering up what has occurred.

Until we deal with that cancer of the blue wall of silence, we are going to continue to have to come to this House floor, and you are going to continue to see individuals be killed as a result of the use of excessive force.

It is an American problem that we should confront, and we should confront it boldly and directly and without hesitation if we really want to uplift the best values of our great democracy.

I thank Congresswoman Kelly, and I thank Congressman Payne for their tremendous leadership.

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