Letter to the Hon. William Barr, Attorney General - Congressmen Tim Ryan (D-OH) and Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) Demand Justice Reforms in Wake of Brutal Police Killings Across the Country

Letter

Attorney General Barr,

During a time when protests are erupting throughout the nation and around the world from people of all races and socioeconomic backgrounds our attention is being called to the suffering of black and brown people here in the United States. We are forced to acknowledge the reality that racism plagues our systems and makes it more difficult for black people and other people of color to access resources and opportunities.

George Floyd was murdered by four police officers because of the color of his skin. As he begged for his life, his final words, "I can't breathe" of Mr. Floyd echo those of Eric Garner and countless African Americans who have had their lives cut short or forever altered by the very people sworn to protect them. This tragedy is not a one-off incident. We have seen time and time again the institutional bias within our criminal justice system and the continuous increase of deaths by police.

Police brutality and violence is now a leading cause of death among young men, particularly Black men who are nearly three times more likely to be killed by police than their white peers. Latino men are almost twice as likely to be killed by police use of force and Black and Latino women and girls and Native Americans are also killed by police at disproportionately higher rates. LGBTQ+ individuals and those experiencing homelessness are also significantly more likely to be criminalized and the target of police violence.

In the past 3½ years, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has rolled back critical policies which held abusive police departments accountable. Ending the practice of placing police departments that violate constitutional rights under court-supervised consent decrees, ending the voluntary federal-state collaborative reform program and reversing limits on a program that has provided billions of dollars of military-grade vehicles and weapons--such as grenade launchers and bayonets--to local police departments has escalated police violence in this nation. The DOJ has significantly failed on maintaining its obligations to the American people.

Given the issues at stake, we immediately call for:

Support of efforts to eliminate the use of force, conduct stringent oversight and investigations and hold individual law enforcement officers and police departments accountable for police brutality, racial profiling and violence
The Department of Justice to reinstitute its authority to investigate individual instances of police brutality, racial profiling as well as police departments that repeatedly violate civil rights
Development of an immersive, real-life, scenario-based training curriculum that reflects and prepares officers for unique challenges and prioritizes improving community-police relations, de-escalation and crisis intervention and alternatives to use of deadly force
It is time for our nation to take bold action and condemn police brutality. Police brutality and the use of excessive and militarized force are among the most serious ongoing human rights and civil liberties violations in the United States and have led to community destabilization, a decrease in public safety, and the exacerbation of structural inequities. We urge you to take immediate steps to rectify these problems within the DOJ as well as provide a written response on how the DOJ will proceed forward with addressing police brutality.

Sincerely,