Posted on 12/04/2014 5:34:59 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
President Obama is pledging a robust effort to ensure the criminal justice system treats all people equally regardless of color following a New York City grand jury’s decision to not indict a police officer in the death of Eric Garner.
Obama has already announced funding for local police training and body cameras, and he convened a meeting of civil rights leaders and law enforcement officials at the White House on Monday to address the issue.
A new White House task force is looking into how local police are gaining heavy weapons and equipment for the military. During a Thursday speech, Obama said he intends to “take more steps” with leaders like New York Mayor Bill de Blasio “in the months ahead to make sure that all Americans have confidence that police and law enforcement are serving everybody equally.”
“When it comes, as we’ve seen, unfortunately, in recent days, to our criminal justice system, too many Americans feel deep unfairness when it comes to the gap between our professed ideals and how laws are applied on a day-to-day basis,” Obama said.
He acknowledged addressing the issue was a big challenge, but said it should galvanize the country and bring Americans together.
The New York grand jury’s decision to not indict a police officer in the death of Garner, who was placed in a chokehold and said “I can’t breathe” as he was pulled to the ground, hit Washington like a sledgehammer.
The decision came just two weeks after a separate grand jury did not indict a white police officer in the death of Michael Brown, a black teenager.
Both decisions have provoked protests around the country, elevating the issue of criminal justice and police behavior.
But it remains unclear how long Obama and the White House will be focused on the issue given a breadth of other challenges facing the administration.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest on Thursday pledged that the task force announced by Obama following that meeting would “produce results.”
Pressed on whether it was more of a symbolic gesture, he said Obama “deserves the benefit of the doubt.”
While White House aides said there were no immediate plans for Obama to travel to either Ferguson, Mo., or New York, that they weren't ruling out a visit in the days and weeks ahead.
It’s also possible Obama could address race in a potential speech.
The president is coming under pressure from black lawmakers and civil liberties group to make sure the issue stays on Washington’s radar.
Laura Murphy, director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), argued that the issue should hold the attention of the White House and lawmakers through the end of Obama’s presidency.
“It just seems like to me that the frequency of these police shootings is something pretty jarring,” she said.
Murphy, who attended this week’s White House, said she was impressed with the president’s handling of the issue so far.
“The president is committed to rolling out a series of actions that will focus more significantly on racial profiling and use of excessive force,” she said.
New York Democratic Rep. Charles Rangel said he is pleased that the “president is amplifying the call to seek justice and truth in Eric Garner's wrongful death.”
He said the Obama’s election as the nation’s first black president didn’t “suddenly end the decades of racism and injustice in our country.”
“It is not just change in law or leadership, but change in our culture that is needed to heal the wounds that have been left through the centuries of racial hatred and prejudice,” he said.
Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), a former prosecutor who called the decision “baffling,” said that Obama’s engagement — and the Justice Department’s investigations into several cases — “is a positive sign that our nation can address this stunningly persistent problem.”
Some Republicans have called for hearings, something Meeks said pointed to “a bipartisan recognition that our criminal justice system is flawed.”
“Congress should absolutely hold hearings and if necessary exercise its power of subpoena so that the public is fully informed about the state of justice in America’s cities,” he said.
Rep. Yvette Clarke, another New York Democrat, called it “quite encouraging to hear the bipartisan call for congressional hearings regarding the lack of grand jury indictments.”
Some black lawmakers want to look at making changes to the way grand juries operate. They have criticized a system that has prosecutors, who work closely with police, lead efforts to win indictments when police officers are accused of wrongdoing.
Democratic Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the incoming whip for the Congressional Black Caucus who represents part of New York City, said action by Congress would be a positive move.
“To the extent Congressional Republicans are willing to move forward with hearings on excessive police force and grand jury reform, that would be a welcome step in the right direction,” he said.
What a maroon. They are all local issues. They are also individual and unique.
What an embarrassment.
Dogs can now rest easy?
A tyrant needs his army.
I think he may just run out of time.
Yeah, that's gonna work out real well.
Classic!
lol!
#5 was in response to your #1
“It just seems like to me that the frequency of these police shootings is something pretty jarring,” she said.”
tell the YOUTH to Get a Life and stop acting like Animals!!
EASY PEASY!!!
There’s nothing like a battle against a straw man. It can be exactly as big as you want it to be.
“It’s also possible Obama could address race in a potential speech. “
WOW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
.
What a maroon. They are all local issues. They are also individual and unique.
What an embarrassment.
That would keep him busy and out of trouble for the next 2 years.
“The New York grand jury’s decision to not indict a police officer in the death of Garner, who was placed in a chokehold and said “I can’t breathe” as he was pulled to the ground, hit Washington like a sledgehammer.”
There was a police sergeant directing that arrest. That sergeant was a black woman, who was given immunity to testify.
I know I did, when the rioters burned and looted Ferguson, and the police and National Guard stood down and let it happen, at the direction of the governor and the feds.
How can a lawless DoJ run by a lawless AG who works for a lawless president solve any problems in local law enforcement?
If only Obama would devote a fraction of “Ferguson Time” to more weighty issues that effect a larger number of people. Little things, like say, unemployment, but not fixing it with employee mandates, that’s what in your face Socialists do, Little things like illiteracy in the standard English language. Little things like learning to deal with anger, rejection, confusion, disappointment without blowing the whole damn neighborhood down. That’s what a real leader would be doing, not this perpetual stirring of the racial grievance pot.
He may put the game into overtime.
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