Take Stock on All Sides

Floor Speech

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Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Speaker Ryan for his comments this morning and thank him so much for asking the people of our great country to take stock. I want us to take stock in more ways than one.

I often talk about having been born and raised in a parsonage. One of the earliest discussions I remember my father having was with a few other ministers trying to decide what to do about getting rid of a minister that had betrayed his trust. So I think that we have to look at these issues on all sides.

I honor police officers. I have relatives who are police officers. I have great friends who are police officers. But the fact of the matter is there are times when people of the cloth need to be defrocked, and there are times when people in the law enforcement community need to take stock.

The fact of the matter is we do know that any time you see a young African American being stopped 52 times by one jurisdiction, something is wrong. And I say to my 21-year-old grandson son: When you are stopped by the police, suppress your manhood so that you can be sure that you come home safe at night.

Let's take stock on all sides of this issue. This is not about being against law enforcement. I support law enforcement, but I do not support those who use the color blue to commit criminal acts.

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