Subject: Hillary Clinton Remarks on Recent Events in Ferguson and Staten Island
From: Burns Strider <[email-masked]>
To: CTRFriendsFamily <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2014 15:56:32 -0500
List-Id: <CTRFriendsFamily.americanbridge.org>

Today in Boston, Secretary Clinton began her speech by remarking on the
state of race and justice in America. You can see her full remarks below,
as well as a recently published article on the topic.

*Hillary Clinton’s remarks on recent events in Ferguson and Staten Island*

Before I begin today, I want to say a few words about the pain and
frustration that many Americans are feeling about our criminal justice
system. I know that a lot of hearts are breaking, and we are asking
ourselves, ‘Aren’t these our sons? Aren’t these our brothers?’

I’m very pleased that the Department of Justice will be investigating what
happened in Ferguson or Staten Island. Those families and those communities
and our country deserve a full and fair accounting as well as whatever
substantive reforms are necessary to ensure equality, justice, and respect
for every citizen.

Now, more broadly, each of us has to grapple with some hard truths about
race and justice in America. Because despite all the progress we’ve made
together, African-Americans, most particularly African-American men, are
still more likely to be stopped and searched by police, charged with
crimes, and sentenced to longer prison terms. And, when one stops and
realizes a third of all Black men face the prospect of prison during their
lifetimes, what devastating consequences that has for their families, and
their communities, and all of us. The United States has less than five
percent of the world’s population, yet we have almost twenty-five percent
of the world’s total prison population. Now, that is not because Americans
are more violent or criminal than others around the world. In fact, that is
far from the facts. But it is because we have allowed our criminal justice
system to get out of balance.

And I personally hope that these tragedies give us the opportunity to come
together as a nation to find our balance again. All over the country, there
are creative and effective police departments demonstrating that it is
possible to keep us safe and reduce crime and violence without relying on
unnecessary force or excessive incarceration. And we all know there are
decent, honorable, brave police officers out in our communities every
single day, inspiring trust and confidence rather than fear and
frustration. So let’s learn from the best examples. Let’s invest in what
works. Let’s make sure that federal funds to state and local law
enforcement are used to bolster best practices, rather than buy weapons of
war that have no place on our streets or contribute to unnecessary force or
arrests.

And I support the President’s announcement of a task force on policing that
will make recommendations in about 90 days. He’s proposed funding for
technology and training, which are important steps. But as we move forward,
we can’t leave it to presidents, governors, mayors, police commissioners
and chiefs.

The most important thing each of us can do is to try even harder to see the
world through our neighbors’ eyes. To imagine what it is like to walk in
their shoes, to share their pain and their hopes and their dreams. These
tragedies did not happen in some far-away place. They didn’t happen to some
other people. These are our streets, our children, our fellow Americans,
and our grief. Now being here in Massachusetts, a place that has always
called itself a commonwealth, I see a history where people slowly but
surely overcame the obstacles to living in common, recognizing we are all
in this together, we can all do better.

*MSNBC: “Hillary Clinton takes on ‘hard truths about race and justice’”
<http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/hillary-clinton-takes-hard-truths-about-race-and-justice>*

By Alex Seitz-Wald

December 4, 2014, 3:19 p.m. EST

In her strongest comments yet this year on criminal justice, Hillary
Clinton called for grappling with “hard truths” about racial discrimination
in the justice system, and said “weapons of war” have no place on the
streets of American communities.

Before beginning her speech at the Massachusetts Conference for Women in
Boston Thursday afternoon, the likely presidential candidate said she
wanted to address “the pain and frustrations that many Americans are
feeling” following grand jury decisions not to indict the police officers
who killed Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri and Eric Garner in Staten
Island, New York City.

Clinton spoke for more than five minutes on the subject, saying she’s “very
pleased” that the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating those cases,
while calling for dramatic reform overall.

“Each of us has to grapple with some hard truths about race and justice in
America. Because despite all the progress we’ve made together,
African-Americans, and most particularly, African-American men, are still
more likely to be stopped and searched by police, charge with crimes, and
sentenced to longer prison terms,” she said.

Beyond racial issues, Clinton suggested she favors reducing the prison
population overall.

“The United States has less than 5% of the world’s population, yet we have
almost 25% of the world’s total prison population,” she said, saying it’s
not because Americans break more laws than other nations. “It is because we
have allowed our criminal justice system to get out of balance. And I
personally hope that these tragedies give us the opportunity to come
together as a nation to find our balance again.”

She praised “creative and effective police departments” that fight crime
”without relying on excessive force  and unnecessary incarceration,” and
called for using those departments as a model.

“Let’s make sure that federal funds to state and local law enforcement are
used to bolster best practices, rather than buy weapons of war that have no
place on our streets or contribute to unnecessary force or arrests,”
Clinton continued.

In addition to policy reforms, she called for a change in attitude. “These
tragedies did not happen in some far away place. They didn’t happen to some
other people. These are our streets, our children, our fellow Americans,
and our grief,” she said, stressing that Americans need to see things
through each others’ eyes.

The failure of the grand juries to indict officers in Ferguson and Staten
Island have sparked massive protests across the country. And police
crackdowns on protesters in Ferguson sparked a related national
conversation about the militarization of police.

Clinton had been criticized for waiting almost 20 days to comment on
Ferguson after Brown was killed in August. She finally did address the
tragedy at a conference in San Francisco, discussing similar themes as her
remarks in Boston. But her comments Thursday went even farther, and are as
strong as any from politicians with national ambitions.