Congressional Black Caucus
Floor Speech
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Mr. JEFFRIES. Mr. Speaker, ``hands up, don't shoot'' is a rallying
cry of people all across America who are fed up with police violence in
community after community after community, fed up with police violence
in Ferguson, in Brooklyn, in Cleveland, in Oakland, in cities and
counties and rural communities all across America.
So tonight the CBC will stand on the floor of the House of
Representatives and, for the next 60 minutes, speak on the topic,
``Black in America: What Does Ferguson Say About Where We Are and Where
We Need to Go?''
People are fed up all across America because of the injustice
involved in continuing to see young, unarmed, African American men
killed as a result of a gunshot fired by a law enforcement officer.
People in America are fed up with a broken criminal justice system
that continues to fail to deliver accountability when law enforcement
officers engage in the excessive use of police force.
People are fed up with prosecutors who don't take seriously their
obligation to deliver justice on behalf of the victims of police
violence, and instead, as we recently saw down in Ferguson, Missouri,
choose to act as the defense attorney for the law enforcement officer
who pulled the trigger and killed Michael Brown.
People are fed up.
Now, this is a problem that Congress can't run away from, and the CBC
stands here today to make sure that Congress runs toward the problem,
that we come up with constructive solutions to breaking this cycle,
this epidemic, this scourge of police violence all across America.
So I am pleased today that we have been joined by several of our
distinguished colleagues, including the chair of the Congressional
Black Caucus, who, for the last 2 years, has led the charge on behalf
of the CBC in dealing with issues of social and racial and economic
justice. I am proud to serve under her. I am proud that she is on the
floor today. We are thankful for her service.
Mr. Speaker, let me now yield to the distinguished gentlewoman from
Cleveland, Congresswoman Marcia Fudge.
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Mr. JEFFRIES. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chair for her eloquent
remarks.
People have asked all over the country, in some quarters, perhaps in
the Congress, and in the city, why are people upset?
Well, you had an unarmed individual, Michael Brown, who had no
criminal record, just graduated from high school, on his way to
college, killed in what appears to be the excessive use of police
force, left to lie in the hot August sun for 4\1/2\ hours.
Immediate response by the police chief is to engage in character
assassination of the deceased, while refusing to release the name of
the officer who pulled the trigger.
The Ferguson Police Department responds as if this was a military
campaign on foreign soil, not in an American city.
The prosecutor decides to get involved and does a document dump;
doesn't engage in responsible prosecutorial behavior; fails to ask for
a specific charge; allows the officer to testify, unabated; doesn't
point out inconsistencies between his initial telling of the events of
that fateful day and what he said before the grand jury; and then
announces all of this late at night, and behaves as if he was the
defense attorney for Darren Wilson.
Why are people upset?
Those are just a few of the reasons.
Mr. Speaker, it is my honor to yield to the distinguished delegate
from the District of Columbia, Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton.
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Mr. JEFFRIES. I thank the distinguished gentlewoman for her
observations.
Mr. Speaker, we are here as members of the Congressional Black Caucus
to have an open, honest, and direct dialogue with America.
In a democracy, there has to be a balance between effective law
enforcement on the one hand and a healthy respect for the Constitution
and the civil rights of others, particularly of African Americans, on
the other. If we are honest, we have not gotten that balance right, and
as a result, we see young, unarmed, innocent African American men being
gunned down in city after city in America, and we are here to say,
``Enough is enough.''
I am pleased now to yield to someone who has served this institution
incredibly well as a Member of Congress, who has served the country
well as a member of the military, the lion of Lenox Avenue, the
distinguished gentleman from the great State of New York and the
village of Harlem, Representative Charlie Rangel.
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Mr. JEFFRIES. I thank the distinguished gentlelady from Texas for
lending her powerful voice to this issue.
We want a fair, impartial, and color-blind criminal justice system.
But if we are honest with ourselves, that doesn't exist for all
Americans today, and that undermines the integrity of our democracy.
That is not just a Black problem or a White problem or a Democratic
problem or a Republican problem. That is an American problem. That is
why the Congressional Black Caucus stands on the House floor here today
to jump-start--not just a discussion, but a march toward making
meaningful progress as we move toward perfecting this great Union.
It is my honor and my privilege to now yield to my good friend and
colleague from the great State of New York, someone who, himself, is a
former prosecutor and who has been involved in the fight for social and
racial justice during his tremendous tenure here in the United States
Congress.
I now yield to the distinguished gentleman from New York City, the
borough of Queens, Congressman Gregory Meeks.
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Mr. JEFFRIES. Thank you, Congresswoman Clarke.
Mr. Speaker, Akai Gurley in Brooklyn did not deserve to die. Tamir
Rice in Cleveland did not deserve to die. Michael Brown in Ferguson did
not deserve to die. The Congressional Black Caucus is determined to
make sure that these and many other deaths at the hands of law
enforcement resulting from the use of excessive force will not be in
vain.
Mr. Speaker, it is now my honor and my privilege to yield to the
distinguished gentleman from the great State of Indiana, Congressman
Andre Carson, one of the mighty voices of the hip-hop generation here
in the United States Congress who powerfully represents his Midwestern
district.
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Mr. JEFFRIES. Mr. Speaker, we have come a long way. We still have a
long way to go. We look forward to marching toward a more perfect
Union.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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