2/14/2015
FBI Director Tells “Hard Truths” About Racism in U.S.
WASHINGTON – FBI Director James B. Comey gave an unusual speech in which he told some “hard truths” about racial discrimination by the police in the United States and the “disconnect” between officers and people of color, local media reported.
“We are at a crossroads. As a society, we can choose to live our everyday lives, raising our families and going to work, hoping that someone, somewhere, will do something to ease the tension – to smooth over the conflict... or we can choose to have an open and honest discussion about what our relationship is today,” Comey said Thursday in a speech to students at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
The FBI director addressed very directly one of the most controversial subjects of recent months: the lack of trust between police and communities of color following the slaying of black teenager Michael Brown by a white policeman in Ferguson, Missouri.
“Police officers on patrol in our nation’s cities often work in environments where a hugely disproportionate percentage of street crime is committed by young men of color. Something happens to people of good will working in that environment. After years of police work, officers often can’t help but be influenced by the cynicism they feel,” Comey said.
Whether the cop is white or black, he said, “two young black men on one side of the street look like so many others the officer has locked up. Two white men on the other side of the street – even in the same clothes – do not.”
In his speech, Comey cited the song “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist” from the Broadway musical “Avenue Q” to indicate that “everyone makes judgments based on race.”
source
FBI Director Tells “Hard Truths” About Racism in U.S.
WASHINGTON – FBI Director James B. Comey gave an unusual speech in which he told some “hard truths” about racial discrimination by the police in the United States and the “disconnect” between officers and people of color, local media reported.“We are at a crossroads. As a society, we can choose to live our everyday lives, raising our families and going to work, hoping that someone, somewhere, will do something to ease the tension – to smooth over the conflict... or we can choose to have an open and honest discussion about what our relationship is today,” Comey said Thursday in a speech to students at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
The FBI director addressed very directly one of the most controversial subjects of recent months: the lack of trust between police and communities of color following the slaying of black teenager Michael Brown by a white policeman in Ferguson, Missouri.
“Police officers on patrol in our nation’s cities often work in environments where a hugely disproportionate percentage of street crime is committed by young men of color. Something happens to people of good will working in that environment. After years of police work, officers often can’t help but be influenced by the cynicism they feel,” Comey said.
Whether the cop is white or black, he said, “two young black men on one side of the street look like so many others the officer has locked up. Two white men on the other side of the street – even in the same clothes – do not.”
In his speech, Comey cited the song “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist” from the Broadway musical “Avenue Q” to indicate that “everyone makes judgments based on race.”
source
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