Date: 2015-11-30
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

I thank the gentleman from New Jersey and the gentlewoman from Illinois but I want to specifically say Chicago. I join my colleagues. Mr. Speaker. I think this is. again. an important statement of the value of the Congressional Black Caucus. I am glad our tone is such that we are compassionate. we have emotion. but we are detailed. With the remaining time. let me try to be concise on the value of the Congressional Black Caucus in American history. its place in this Congress to be the provocative orators and articulators of the conscience of this Nation. Let me first of all say that I have been privileged but certainly have mourned May 15. when all of us paid attention to fallen law enforcement officers who are honored here in the United States Capitol. Any number of us has gone to the grounds. and we have hugged those from our districts. we have honored families. and we have recognized the pain. I think many of you recall that there was an assassination of sorts of a deputy sheriff in Houston. a number of unfortunate assassinations or shootings of police in New York. and I saw the Nation mourn. I think it is important to say this because. often. when we say "Black lives matter." it seems conflicted. People raise the issues that African Americans or the Nation seem to be hesitant about law enforcement officers. and that is not true. I want to thank the Congressional Black Caucus and Chairman BUTTERFIELD because we started out this year with a criminal justice agenda. I just want to quickly go down memory lane or to reflect very quickly to say that it was the leadership and the combined Members who raised a number of issues that have brought us to the point that we have actually passed in the Senate and in the House Judiciary Committee criminal justice sentencing legislation. We are not where we need to be. but the Sentencing Reform Act will reduce mass incarceration by 11.500. Of those who are currently incarcerated. it will give retroactive relief. and an additional 4.000 will benefit each year. Combined with that. it will be 50.000 over 10 years. We are beginning to look at the criminal justice system in a way that speaks to the whole idea of Blacks. minorities. Hispanics. and others being the fodder for the criminal justice system. In my district in Houston. Texas. Black and Hispanic youth make up over 75 percent of the male population age 10 to 24 years. but Black and Hispanic youth account for 85 percent of the youth admitted in our detention centers. We are working on the reduction of sentencing. and I think with the help of this bipartisan legislation. which has been initiated and brought to the attention of this Congress by members of the Congressional Black Caucus in working with other Members of this body. both Republicans and Democrats. we have legislation that should pass. As we all know and as we have been mystified and mourning this tape. I know that Congresswoman KELLY in her hometown has been a champion for justice. along with her fellow colleagues of the Congressional Black Caucus. BoBBY RUSH and DANNY DAVIS. who have been front and center on these issues. So we must continue the journey of dealing with the juvenile justice. Might I say that I hope we will come around the issues of the RAISE Act. of the Fair Chance for Youth Act. and of Kaliefs Law. ending solitary confinement for young people in the juvenile justice system. banning the arrest record. and. of course. giving alternative sentencing to these young people. I want to quickly get back to this horrific shooting. because what "Black Lives Matter" speaks to is coming together around an improved law enforcement system. That is why I came to the floor todayto be able to say. unless we move forward on legislation that deals with best practices in our police departments. we are going to continue the tension that should not exist. There is no explanation or no answer to the video that has been shown. I wonder what the sentencing or the reaction or the ultimate result would have been if there were a video of Darren Wilson and Michael Brown. There was not. I still believe that with Michael Brown. an unarmed youth. his actor. who happened to be a law enforcement person. should not have gone unpunished. In this instance. we see a video that was completely mischaracterized. or. in essence. the story was characterized completely contrary to the video that was shown. So what is the answer? Law enforcement officers who I work with all the time will indicate that there are bad apples. and they are right. Then work with us to pass the Law Enforcement Trust and Integrity Act. which provides the roadmap and the incentive for all of these departments to be accredited and to have officers go through the specific training that documents how you address the question of the street. It includes video cameras. It includes communityoriented policing. It includes grants to incentivize better training and better training practices. We must find an answer in this term of Congress. We should not end this Congress without a complete and reformed criminal justice system. including dealing with law enforcement. which is clearly what the Congressional Black Caucus has been working on. So I am hoping that we can find this common ground because there is no explanation that is reasonable or rational of the actions of the officer in Chicago. There is no reasonable explanation to the officer in the Sandra Bland case. Ladies and gentlemen. you remember this young woman dying in a jail. They have yet to come up with an indictment or a response. They have yet to have an answer of the jail that standards were an embarrassment in Waller County. The District Attorney has yet to come forward in the Sandra Bland case. The family has not been notified. The lawyer doesnt know what is going on. We met with those individuals not to direct them. but to ensure that they were going to respect this death. Nothing has happened about the stop that we saw in the video. Nothing has happened about the jail incarceration. I simply have come to the floor to indicate to my colleagues. Republicans and Democrats. to work with us on a number of issues that those in the Congressional Black Caucus reach out in the spirit of bipartisanship. dealing with the Voting Rights Reauthorization in section 5. providing opportunities for Historically Black Colleges which we have been at the leadership realm of. making sure that the criminal justice system addresses the overincarceration of our youth. dealing with the question of policing. which the Black Lives Matters speaks to it eloquently. We should not be condemned for the massive protests of 10.000 people down this wonderful Michigan Avenue as: There they go again. We have got to find a place at the table to be able to reorient. if you will. how we do policing in America. I would ask my colleagues that we move swiftly in this term in this Congress to be able to address this. Let me finish on this one last point. The violence of guns is outrageous. I want to speak very quietly about the Planned Parenthood incident because I dont want to provoke. but I believe it is important to note we always say for those who dont want to hear us about gun safety closing the gun show loophole. banning assault weapons which the individual had. However it plays out. the individual may be determined to have a mental health concern or condition. but he had an automatic rifle of some sort. And. unfortunately. we lost several persons in the course of the incident. although the investigation is still ongoing. It also happens in BlackonBlack crime. My friends. our community doesnt ignore that. But what we say is that guns are involved in most of these deaths. Not only are guns involved. but we must understand that. when a gun is used by an officer. it is distinct from BlackonBlack crime because it is under color of law. The Congressional Black Caucus comes to the table to ensure that these very sensitive issues are handled with the greatest delicacy. but with the greatest commitment and passion that we want to stop the killing. stop the deaths. and have the decency to reflect on a parent like Mr. PAYNE. a parent like Ms. KELLY. a parent like myself. Black lives matter. Our children matter. The Congressional Black Caucus wants to work to ensure that we have the answers that the American people have asked us for and that they deserve. As a senior member of the House Committee on Homeland Security as well as the Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committees Subcommittee on Crime. Terrorism and Investigations. I am pleased to join my colleagues of the Congressional Black Caucus for this Special Order to speak to the issues that members of the 114th Congress must address. No other country imprisons a larger percentage of its population than the United States or spends anywhere near the $6.5 billion that we spend annually on prison administration. We now know that the cost of imprisoning so many nonviolent offenders is fiscally unsustainable and morally unjustifiable and it will take the combined efforts of policy makers. reform advocates. legal professionals. and private citizens to solve the problem. Congress took a giant step forward on the road to reform with a law I cosponsored. the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010. which eliminated the crack versus powder disparity. Earlier this month. the House took another big step when its Judiciary Committee favorably reported another bill I sponsored. the Sentence Reform Act of 2015 . which will help reform a criminal justice system that often seems less effective at reforming criminals and more effecting in inflicting collateral damage on families and communities. Specifically. the Sentence Reform Act will reduce mass incarceration by making over 11.500 individuals. who are currently incarcerated. eligible for retroactive relief and an additional 4.000 will benefit each year. Combined. this is over 50.000 in ten years. These estimates are conservative. as not all the positive reforms can be quantified. Today. we know also that more and more young children are being arrested. incarcerated. and detained in lengthy outofhome placements. Our youth easily encounter law enforcement through the mass transit on the way to school. the school resource officer at school. and patrol officers on the way home. A youth experience behavior issues when encountered should not be arrested but assessed for underlying issues that can nearly always be handled without ever having contact with the justice system. At least 75 percent of children within the juvenile justice system have experienced traumatic victimization. making them vulnerable to mental health disorders and perceived behavioral noncompliance and misconduct. Numerous studies have also shown that as many as 7080 percent of youth involved in the justice system meet the criteria for a disability. In my district in Houston. Texas. Black and Hispanic Youth make up over 75% of the male population aged 1024 years. Yet. Black and Hispanic Youth account for 85% of youth admitted in our detention centers. A majority of these admissions into detention are for minor and misdemeanor offensesbehavior that should not require locking youth up. Especially when the rate of detention continues to reflect disproportionate minority contact and criminalization of minority youth. As we look to reform our juvenile and criminal justice system. and be what President Obama has called upon us be: "My Brothers and Sisters Keeper"-we must move away from the engrained culture of criminalization as the answer to our problems. These include: I have introduced 13 additional pieces of legislation this Congress pertaining to Criminal Justice Reform.