Date: 2015-04-14
Speaker: WATSON COLEMAN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Thank you very much to my esteemed colleague from New York. I am new to Congress. and I have had quite a few occasions to come to the floor and talk about issues that are very pressing to my community and to me. I stand here as an African American woman who represents the State of New Jersey. but I stand here as a wife. a mother. a sister. an aunt. and a cousin to African American men. In that capacity. each and every day that one of them leaves our presence and leaves their home. I wonder if they will come back safely. I know they mean no one any harm. but I dont know that the police that they might encounter would see that in them as I do. My community has cried out for a long period of time that there has been injustice and there has been harm and danger and needless deaths facing our young men and even some of our young women. As a matter of fact. Mr. CLYBURN mentioned the issue of data collection as being such an important element here in helping us to find our way. I noted that The Washington Post said that. out of thousands of fatal interactions between the police and citizens. only 54 officers have been charged. and of those. most were cleared and acquitted. We need better data collection. we need greater accountability. and we. obviously. need greater justice because. in those instances. the majority of these officers are going back into the streets. patrolling these communities. and those people who are in charge of them are still in charge of them and are still performing what should be a public service. I understand that not every case that we are encountering is as clearcut as the one we just encountered with Officer Slager. I understand that there are other cases that have resulted in other findings. I do not understand how some of these findings could have occurred given the things that we have actually seen. I stand here recognizing that this Congress can. indeed. help these local police departments with things such as body cameras. In the costbenefit analysis. is a life worth enough to invest in them for the police departments? I say "yes." but there are other things that. I think. Congress should be considering and on which. I think. we should be leading the way in the discussion. One of those is that there are consequences that should not only be felt by the officer who was actively engaged in the misfortune. such as in the Slager case or even in the Brown case in Ferguson. but what about those individuals who knowingly participated in the policies that ended up creating this disparity in our society. this injustice in our society? They are given the opportunity to walk away. They are given the opportunity to retire. They are given the opportunity to resign. They are given the opportunity to move on with their lives and to benefit from the pensions and other benefits that have been accrued by the number of years they have been working as public servants. even though it is clearly demonstrated that their service was not to the public. There need to be consequences that need to be addressed with regard to that also. There is a lot that needs to be done. We can see it. but we can no longer be silent on it. Congress does have a role here. Congress has a responsibility to ensure that the laws of this country are protecting all of our citizens. We need to do things like invest in body cameras. not just to catch those who are doing these things which are harmful to our community but to protect the good policemen who are sometimes the subject of complaints that arent verified. I honestly believe that those who don the blue uniform do so with the expectation and the desire to protect. preserve. and to serve. but those who do not and those who allow those who do not to continue to do what they are doing need to be accountable. I look forward to working with my esteemed colleague who is in charge of this Special Order hour and with all of those who are working to ensure that there is justice. safety. and security and that. as a mother. I dont have to worry. that. as a wife. I dont have to worry. that. as a sister. as an aunt. as a cousin. and as a friend. I dont have to worry every time a Black man who is associated with me leaves my home.