Conversation with new jersey governor phil murphy. At noon, we go to houston, texas for the funeral of george floyd, who died in Police Custody in minnesota. Had 2 30, the Senate Finance committee looks at the role of the cares act during the covid19 pandemic. On cspan2, the Senate Returns at 10 00 a. M. To resume consideration of legislation to maintenanced land and on cspan3, the Senate Homeland security governmental holds acommittee hearing on buying and distribution strategies in response to covid19. President trump met with Law Enforcement officials amid protests over George Floyds death. The president said he does not support defunding or dismantling the police, adding his view that 99 of Police Officers are great people. Law enforcement officials spoke about progress made in criminal Justice Reform and the need for law and order. Pres. Pres. Trump it is a great honor to have some of the great leaders in our country of lawenforcement, and that is what they have done. They have enforced the laws. Numbersamong the best we have ever had in terms of recorded history certainly, but this has been a very strong year for less crime, lets put it that way. Reason for less crime. We had great Law Enforcement. I am proud of them. Crime. We had great Law Enforcement. I am proud of them. There wont be defunding or dismantling of our police. There will not be any disbanding of our police. The police have been letting us live in peace, we want to ensure sure we dont have any bad actors in there. Sometimes we see horrible things, but i say 99 are great people. They have done jobs that are recordsetting. So our Crime Statistics are at a level that they have not been at. I want to go around the room and just ask each one of the folks to say hello in say a little bit about themselves and the success they have had, then we will go and have a meeting as to where we go from here. Ok . Thank you. Mr. President , thank you. Thank you for hosting this meeting, for the ability to talk about important things in Law Enforcement. This last year has been really trying to lawenforcement. In the last year, the lasting months, we have dealt with covid, we have lost 117 officers across this country who were exposed to covid. I thank you for your leadership and recognizing there is not a single thing in the profession that we did not receive assistance for from your administration. Thank you for your support. We are dealing with another crisis pushing us to our limits. I dont know in Law Enforcement officer in this country that is not appalled with the incident that occurred in minneapolis. But that one incident does not reflect the minimum and across this country that go to work every single day to make their communities better. Thank you. We recognize it is time for us to have some good, deep discussion and look within to improve the criminal Justice System. We want a seat at the table to have that discussion. President trump thank you, patrick, very much. Ashley, please. Ashley first and foremost, we have to ensure before we can collaborate and make progress in the criminal justice arena, we have to make sure we have space to do that. We appreciate you focusing on what is important, that people have the ability to express their opinion and protest in a peaceful way, but we cannot have a tax on Law Enforcement, looting. This will dismantle what we have built for so long. In florida, we are at a 48year crime rate low, we have not been this low in crime and sometime. I believe it is people like you that have supported Law Enforcement, and i believe in any administration or criminal Justice System, we can always make improvements. I admire that you are willing to dig in and have these conversations and do that. I think that moving forward, the idea that we would ever dismantle our police administration, coming from not only the attorney general of the great state of florida, as federal prosecutor, or as a judge for over a decade, but as a wife of a lawenforcement officer, i see what these men and women do for our communities. They rush in to save us when other people rush out. They deliver babies. They rescue. We expect great things. We have to ensure they are safe, and at the same time, we must remain committed to improving our system. We stand ready to assist you. President trump thank you very much, ashley. You are doing a great job in florida. I get the word, you are doing a great job. Thank you mr. President and staff at the white house for posting this. I am the National Chairman of trustees for the police. Im also here is a sergeant, working the streets during this time of crisis in our nation. The reason im so happy to be here today representing the rankandfile is because, number one, it is important for everybody to know that there is not one Law Enforcement officer in the country that ive spoken to, with friends and colleagues from all over the country, that looked at this horrific incident and remotely thought that there was anything right about the it. The great, vast majority of men and women in Law Enforcement who are appalled by what happen. That vast majority is also, as the president has always said, already said, those are the good men and women of Law Enforcement who work hard every day to make their communities safe. On behalf of that rankandfile, we applaud this meeting and we are meant to be here, because here,re glad to be because there is no doubt in anybodys mind, as general moody already said, that there is room for improvement, and we know that. We are happy to be at the table and happy to welcome that input and do what we can to be better, Better Police in this country, Better Police for our citizens and our communities, and we are happy to be part of this conversation, and that is why we are here. Very much appreciate it. Pres. Trump weve known each other a long time now. Really good. Jared, please. We had the opportunity to grow close with Law Enforcement. Weve worked closely to bring criminal Justice Reform. The Law Enforcement community heard the cries from the community and saw the injustices in the system that need to be fixed and responded by coming together to fix it. Its been a Great Partnership to do that. These reforms make our communities safer and our system fairer and thats what weve been able to accomplish by working together. What we seen in the past is that it doesnt just result in reports, or talking points that result in progress and policies that make peoples lives better. Hopefully at this time when theres a lot of people in the country who are feeling different pain and feeling different concerns, Law Enforcement can be here and come leader, come together and work toward bringing solutions that can bring this country forward, so thank you very much for that partnership. Thank you, mr. President. Thanks to all the Law Enforcement individuals in the room and for the work you do on a daily basis. When i saw it happened george floyd, it really made my heart sunk. It hit me to my core, as well as a lot of other lives that have been lost. As an africanamerican, ive lived in south d. C. And lived in a paradox. My wife is sometimes scared to walk the streets by herself. In the same vein, as an individual, ive also had the fear of being in certain neighborhoods, or driving certain types of cars as an africanamerican, just because of my relationship with the police. Theres a lot of africanamerican males across the country that have stories like that that they can share. But i think Law Enforcement is there to kind of thread the needle and help us and protect us and not to be demonized. Its been very, very tough to see what happened and whats been impacting a lot of families across the country. I think if we want real reform that can change communities, it starts with Law Enforcement and and partnering with them, not demonizing them. I have a lot of lawenforcement individuals in my life and they are some of the greatest people ive ever met. We cannot let some bad apples represent something at the core of any community. We look forward to continuing to partner with you all and to find solutions because that is one thing ive learned working under president trumps leadership, that we are not just about talk, we are about action. In communities leading are free to take action and it has been an honor to serve, and i look forward to the discussion. Pres. Trump great to have you with us, great job youre doing, too. Please. Good afternoon, mr. President and Vice President. Thank you for putting this important meeting together, probably one of the most important meetings in my profession in my 43 years as a Law Enforcement officer. I wont echo some the things that have been set about the horrific incident that brought us here today, but what i will say is this. What its going to take to make the appropriate changes in Law Enforcement is courageous leadership. There are countless courageous leaders in Law Enforcement across this nation that are willing to step up to the plate and look at new ideas, to make our profession better and how we connect with our community. I think one of the most important things, mr. President , that you have done is coming you you have listened to iacp and something we wanted and asked for for two decades, and thats a National Commission on Law Enforcement and administration of justice. I want to thank you for establishing that, because now, more than ever, that commission is incredibly important, so thank you. Pres. Trump thats great. Thank you very much. Mr. Vp, please. Vice president pence thank you, mr. President , and we are here to listen. I want to thank the attorney generals who are here, but most especially, sergeant, chief, and others, thanks for what you represent. Which is really the best of america. I told the chief that my uncle was a Police Officer in chicago for 25 years. And i grew up with my three brothers and two sisters, great memories of visiting my grandparents in chicago and seeing my uncle in his uniform and seeing him walk out the door, put his life on the line to protect and serve. I want to promise you that you have a president and an administration that is always going to stand with men and women who serve and at a great risk and great sacrifice to protect our communities. Im also very grateful, mr. President , to hear this afternoon a desire to have a conversation about how we can improve. As jared just shared a moment ago, this president has already demonstrated his willingness to improve our Justice System in this country, passing historical criminal Justice Reform. I want to express my appreciation to Law Enforcement officials who are here at this table today who were with us when we brought that Bipartisan Legislation forward, mr. President , at your direction. We have always been in the business of making a more perfect union, and we are going to be about that now. In the wake of the tragic event now almost two weeks ago, we want to hear from you about how we can improve, but improve in a way that builds on that foundation. Really the finest men and women in our country, the bravest men and women in our country, the men and women of Law Enforcement. How we make sure that the men and women who dedicate their lives to Law Enforcement, who take risks every single day to our communities safe, are properly supported and that the resources from the federal government, the support from state and local authorities will continue to hold up those honorable men and women who serve to protect every day. So thank you, mr. President , and thank you to all those who are here. Pres. Trump thank you, mike, very much. Mr. President , its an honor to be here. Ive been a member of your team for two years, taking over the domestic policy about a month ago. What i want to say briefly as this. Three months ago, on this of the white house we gathered almost 1000 black leaders from around this country who were celebrating lack history month. In that celebration, we talked about having the lowest unemployment, the lowest poverty rate this country had ever seen. It was a remarkable feat that deserves such great celebration. But here we are, three months later, and its a different time for our country. But on friday, we had another major announcement. 2. 5 million jobs plus created in a time of such darkness and destruction. It reminded me that while we are in the midst of the Great American comeback, while we are going to be renewing and rebuilding and restoring this country, that none of it is possible without our Law Enforcement. None of it is possible without real safety and Real Security in this country. So really, for the Great American comeback, with your leadership, mr. President , as we cut poverty rates again and we slash unemployment again and we built a country where every man, woman, and child have a shot at the American Dream and it begins today. I believe it begins with people in this room. It begins with a Law Enforcement that is supported, and i know you and the Vice President and all in this room one us to move forward. Mr. President , thank you very much. Im pleased to work very closely with folks like sheriff childress and those who took their time to come up and be a part of this very important conversation. As someone with Law Enforcement in my family as well, its a very important conversation. Everybody ive talked to at the elected leader level and also at the rankandfile level was just appalled by what happened in minneapolis. But out of that comes a commitment, a redoubling to make improvement across the country at the state and local and federal level and am really pleased to have such strong partners in the Intergovernmental Affairs office to make that progress under your leadership, sir. Thank you. Thank you, mr. President , for thanked ship and each of you for being here today. When the cameras are not rolling and when there is no reporters around, theres unbelievable work that has been going on and will continue to go on to make sure that its not just words, that its action. Mr. President , youve been a president of action, and for such a time as this, action, again, will speak louder than words. All of you that are gathered around this table today, we thank you for your action to be here and for the action that will come from this. Its a pleasure to serve you. Pres. Trump thank you, mark, very much. Thank you, mr. President , mr. Vice president , and the administration, for allowing us to sit down with you once again today. We just want you to know that you are a friend, you have been very supportive of Law Enforcement. As a matter fact, ive been 29 years with Livingston County sheriffs department. Tony childress is my name, and im the sheriff of Livingston County, which is the fourth largest county in the state of illinois. We are 90 miles south of chicago. I call it rural central illinois, and we have an ideology that i feel, and many others feel, works very well. That ideology is being a friend of the community, supporting the community with programs like shopping with the sheriff, like halloween with the children, always being there as a listening ear for the community, and working with the community. Mr. President , we are happy to sit down with you and to try and do everything we can to make this nation better by keeping the Community Safe and by working with you and the nation and making a better place. Some of the things that we feel in Livingston County will be very important is a mandatory deescalation training for all officers, prohibition of all physical restraint maneuvers on or above the neck, and any physical acts that restrict the flow of blood or oxygen to the brain. Requiring all officers to render medical aid to all people and requiring officers to intervene when physical forces are being applied to either stop or attempt forces that are being inappropriately applied, and is no longer required. So we look forward to working with you to hopefully get legislation involved in making these things true and making them law. We just thank you again for allowing us to be here and know that you have a friend in illinois, and anything you need, just let us know. Thank you again. Pres. Trump thank you very much. Great job. We appreciate it. Thank you, mr. President , for convening this session. Its good to join with all my friends and colleagues from Law Enforcement community, many of whom ive worked with over the years. I think Law Enforcement fully understands, and has understood for some time, the distrust that exists in the Africanamerican Community toward the criminal Justice System. As ive been reflecting on this over the past few days and weeks, it struck me that, for most of our history, maybe just up to 60 years ago, the law was explicitly discriminatory and did not provide equal protection. Its only been since the early 1960s that our law has actually provided equal protection to africanamericans. What we have had over the past 50 years or so is reform of our institutions, so that they reflect those values, the values upon which our country was founded. Some institutions, such as the military, have done an excellent job of reforming. And Law Enforcement has, too. Thats one thing i understand from being attorney general 30 years ago. What makes me very optimistic today is that the Law Enforcement leaders that we deal with, and you all know this, no one is more committed to reforming the criminal Justice System and the profession of policing today. There hasnt been a president recently who has been more committed. He didnt require the crisis we have today to get started with the first step act, and with establishing a commission that has been looking at the very issues we are dealing with today. I know theres a lot of interest among Police Leaders for clarity and guidance on the use of force and some of the issues you were just talking about, sheriff. Making sure the standards are out there, making sure they are trained, and making sure they are adhered to. We are looking forward to working with you to get that done. The time for waiting is over. Its now incumbent on us to bring good back. It is now incumbent on us to bring good out of bad. The commitment is there for Law Enforcement, so lets get it done. Finally, just let me say that the other aspect of this is the rule of law and the need for law and order. Above the department of justice main entrance is the latin phrase that from law and order, Everything Else comes. Its the foundation of civilization, and we have to make sure, its our responsibility to make sure that our country is ruled by law and not by violence. Pres. Trump thank you, bill. Well said. Thank you very much. I got to know daniel in kentucky. He is a superstar in the making. He had an incredible race and we watched it together, and congratulations on that. It was some evening, right . Thank you mr. President , it was. Obviously i was grateful for your support and grateful for your leadership on this current issue. Weve obviously had the challenges with covid19, and now were starting to see civil unrest in our society as it relates to some of the challenges that, frankly, black and brown communities have had, as general barr so eloquently stated. We have a responsibility in our in this room with all of our Law Enforcement partners to look for ways as we move forward to do it better, to become better citizens, to become better neighbors. Im so thankful for the men and women of our Law Enforcement community that recognize the importance and sincerity of that need, and have the interest, not only to protect and serve, but also to demonstrate understanding of the challenges and look for ways to heal the fabric of this nation. As general william barr said, we cannot allow for chaos in our streets. We can allow for peaceful protest. We cannot allow for chaos. We cannot allow for violence. Those in this room know that and those that have been peacefully protesting know that, but our challenge today is how can we move together to better our communities, to better our society in a meaningful way . Im honored to be a part of that discussion, someone from the commonwealth of kentucky who represents kentucky and understands some of the civil unrest we are seeing there. I appreciate you assembling this roundtable. I appreciate all of you who are here today to be part of this conversation, and i look forward to working with you all in collaborating to better our communities and our society. Pres. Trump thank you very much. Im proud of you. Its very interesting, because i just see in some of the papers, they want to end the Police Department in minneapolis. End it. What does that mean, end it . They had a couple of rough nights, and they had a third night which was not good. They abandoned their precinct, something ive never noticed before. You had a mayor that asked them to abandon and now they have abandoned the mayor, it looks like. The opposite of far thinking. You say its far thinking, is that far thinking . So they had three really bad nights and i insisted on bringing in the national guard, and all of a sudden it was like magic. It was in good shape. They helped with the police, but the police were told to leave their posts. Nobody is ever seen anything like that. We insisted on having protection for that great city in that great state. Great state, minnesota. What a horrible thing thats where it started. We ended very strong once we got involved right from the white house. We were going to let that happen to that city or that state. I think a lot of people took notice. The police are doing an incredible job, as i said, the records are being broken in terms of lack of crime. Had a tremendous 12 months, a tremendous 36 months, i think you could say during the term. And then then you add six months to that. 3. 5 years have gone by very quickly but weve had a tremendous record on crime, and we are going to talk about ideas, how we can do it better and how we can do it in a much more gentle fashion. The thing like what happened should never have happen. Plenty of things shouldnt have happened. But we cant give up the finest Law Enforcement anywhere in the world. Theres nothing like it. Few people, few countries have our record, and im talking about the positive records. We are going to be discussing some ideas and concepts of things, but we wont be defunding or dismantling are our police. We wont be disbanding our police or ending our police force. In a city. You might have some cities that want to try, but its going to be a very sad situation if they did, because people arent going to be protected. These people do a tremendous job of protecting citizens of our country, and thats what they are paid for. Whether they were paid or not, thats what they do. Someone put it very beautifully before when they said they protect people, risk their own lives for people theyve never seen before. People in many cases they dont know. You are protecting the lives of people you dont know. Its an incredible thing. Its a great honor to be with you all. We will have a little discussion now. Thank you all very much. Mr. Washington journal. Every day, we are taking your calls live on the air. We will discuss policy issues that impact you. Coming up tuesday morning, we will look at policing during the covid19 pandemic and nationwide civil unrest with the president of the International Association of chiefs of police and we will talk about Race Relations in america with the naacp president and ceo. Washington journal live at 7 00 eastern tuesday morning, and be sure to join the discussion. Coming up now is Robert Woodson, the founder and president of the Woodson Center. Thank you for your time, sir. Great to be here. Remind viewers of the Woodson Center. I found at the Woodson Center about 38 years ago. Its purpose is to serve low. Ncome people we go around the country to drug infested neighborhoods and we find grassroots leaders who are solving the problems internally. Internally. They are social entrepreneurs. Once we find them, we help them with access to money, training, so if theyre helping 50 people, we will help them to expand to help 500. We have we have served about 2500 lowincome people of all races in 39 states throughout the country. Host who funds and backs your organization . Guest primarily private donors. We have gotten large grants from amoco,vron corporation, individuals, the bradley foundation. Occasionally a government grant to help. But primarily private donations of individuals. Host you have probably heard as much as anybody about this defund the police or at least a partial amount of their budget and turn that money around and put it into communities. What do you think of that idea . Guest i think that is the worst idea that i ever heard. Because the people in whose name it is being done will be the ones most injured. There have been several studies that demonstrate that when there is Police Notification for instance, when police are withdraw they vigorously enforcing laws in these high crime areas, the consequences are increased in the number of deaths in those communities. For instance, last spring in st. Louis in a period of less than four months, 16 young people, children under the age of 14, were shot and killed. Only one arrest. And that same pattern occurs throughout the country. So when you talk about withdrawing the police, it would have the opposite effect. It will increase the number of deaths occurring in those communities. But the people who are advocating this do not have to live with the consequence of their advocacy. That is the problem. I would like to see some of those who are advocating to defund the police, why dont they lead by example, for instance, and give us their zip codes and then demand that the police not come into their communities to enforce the laws, and lets just see what happens there. Someone said when you make an enemy of the police, then you have to make friends with criminals. Host mr. Woodson, you recently wrote about what was going on, and you talk about this idea of the ferguson effect. You wrote this, the devastation will likely continue after the ashes cool and the remains of shops and other businesses are swept away, a pattern known as the ferguson effect has emerged across american towns and cities racked by antipolice protested in recent years. Can you expand . Guest the ferguson effect is what i just said, some years ago in cincinnati, ohio, when the Police Officer shot a young man and sharpton and all the civil rights people came into cincinnati and organized a citywide boycott, so what happened was the police said, well, if we are going to be accused of racism, we are not going to be aggressive in enforcing the laws in those high crime areas. There was a dramatic increase in the number of deaths in that high crime area. Neither sharpton, the pastors, or the civil rights people of cincinnati had to suffer the consequence of that. Also, the people that were hurt most about the boycott were waiters, cooks. There were black folks who were driving taxicabs. They were the ones most hurt by this advocacy. What i saw this trend in cincinnati 10 years ago, and now it has been documented in a harvard study that shows, in the course of a year, when police refused to be aggressive in enforcing laws in those high crime areas, there is about 800 deaths that occur as a consequence every year of police nullification. We ought to be asking the people what we what we plan to do it the Woodson Center, we want to poll those communities and ask the people in their whether they think that we should be pulling back and defunding the police. Host if you want to talk to our guest, eastern and central time zones, 202 7488000. Mountain and pacific time zones, 202 7488001. Members of Law Enforcement, 202 7488002. You can text your thoughts to 202 7488003. We need to take a short pause in a few minutes in this conversation. Mr. Woodson, you have been a longtime advocate involved in civil rights for many years. From what you saw of these protests of late, how do they compare to what you have seen earlier . Guest first of all, as a veteran of the Civil Rights Movement, i experienced racial. Iscrimination firsthand in the 1950s, i was stationed in mississippi and in florida, and i saw it firsthand. In fact, i went to jail twice because i raised civil rights issues on a military base, and the police, there was a relationship of the local police, so i got arrested. Three years upon my discharge, whenever police would Police Lights would flash in my rearview mirror, my heart would race. I remember the days when i would go to jail and a very nasty, dirty place. So i have experienced it firsthand. So what we fought for in the Civil Rights Movement was an opportunity to demonstrate our ability to achieve. And we had specific goals in mind. But today, they do not have any specific goals in mind. All they are talking about is what they are against. In the Civil Rights Movement, we fought for what we were trying to achieve. But there seems to be confusion right now. Also, as dr. King said, the way you destroy an enemy is make them your friend. We were not out to vilify white people. Racism was not bad, dr. King said, because it was being practiced by white people. Racism was bad because it was people, and he recruited black and white people to confront people. To confront evil. Minutes have just a few before we have to take a break. What reforms are needed in the cases of Derek Chauvin and other police . They should be held to a higher standard than anyone. And when police do what was done in this case, they should be vigorously punished. I believe that one of the things we ought to do is insist that police, if they witness a fellow officer committee a crime or violating the law, they should arrest them. The rule really think of law should prevail over loyalties to fellow officers. So if we were to institute that practice, that would help in this situation. If those four officers had come upon as civilian with a knee on havenes neck, they would effected an arrest. Well, the same should apply if they see a fellow officer during the same thing. So there needs to be reformed. But we should also we do not want people to profile blacks because some blacks commit crimes. We do not want us to generalize, nor should we generalize about the police. In the course of a year, there are 1000 people who are shot by police, many of them shooting at the police. 270 blacks that are killed. And only 27 are blacks killed by whites or Police Officers who are unarmed. 27 thaty one of those is creating the kind of outrage that you see, there are 270 blacks who are killing other blacks. So yes, i think we should hold the police accountable. But black folks should hold themselves accountable, as well. Does black lives only matter when it is taken by a white person . I think that we should be 9 11ged at the kind of that occurs every year in black america. As someone said, if black people dont think black lives matter, why should whites or anyone else . And these are difficult issues, but we must at least be able to debate and discuss them without somebody being called a name or someone losing their job because they do not subscribe to the new orthodoxy to say institutional racism are you for against it . If you challenge us in anyway way, people lose their jobs. I think this is a dangerous trend that im witnessing in america where we cannot even sit host our conversation, 967, th stands adjourned until 9 00 a. M. On thursday, june 11, 2020. House resolution 967, the house stands adjourned caller we have come a long way in this country, but it looks like we have not come far enough and there is still work to do. I represent a group of retired professionals, multiracial, and we are approaching this problem from a different perspective. The we studied the takedowns across the country most prevalent. One of them took place just north of me in more, oklahoma a few years ago. A fellow was taken down and he died. The five offduty officers were cleared. And the discussion on that and this was brought up in the group at the library, i was amazed but my three sons had the benefit of my grandfather was chief of police and when he taught me to drive when i was 15, he discussed what would happen when you came into contact with Law Enforcement and it was startling what he said. He said, when you come into contact with Law Enforcement, he said you are in a life or death situation and you will determine whether you live or die based on your actions. Host thank you. Guest i am not sure what his point is, but yeah, i think we all need to take control of our situation. Again when Law Enforcement has the authority of the state, they must be held to a higher standard and be held accountable, but i think it is wrong to exaggerate the number cases like this is this if as if this is systemic. Actions of these lawless officers reflect on the entire system to the point where there are calls for defunding the entire police. Where therestaurants staff refuses to serve Police Officers to show solidarity with black lives matter. What is that all about . Why isnt there outrage . I did not fight and struggle and go to jail in the Civil Rights Movement so that, in the name of justice, we discriminate against another group of people called Police Officers. That is the moral inconsistency that we are addressing today. Host vanessa from illinois. Good morning, your next. I wanted to applaud mr. Woodson for being very commonsensical in everything that hes said. He is one of the most commonsensical persons i have listened to hear. I would love to sit down and have a conversation. I think this is more than what we can all solve here in a few seconds, but i guess my question is, i mean, i look at the police and to me they have the hardest job in america, and the world. If i try to put myself in the place of all people, i mean, i cannot because i am not there, but i see the things they have to deal with and how could any person be in that type of situation and always be a certain type of person to be not affected by what happens . Same as the person who is on the other cited, maybe the criminal, who feels his life is a certain way and he reacts to the same problems. It is not a good situation. Feel of course, we need to keep our police. Change has to be on both sides. Host apologies for that, vanessa. Mr. Woodson, go ahead. Guest you are right. What we are doing at the Woodson Center is we are going to convene a webinar where we go around the country and identify communities where there is positive police, black community and police interaction, and see what the rest of the country can learn from. We ought to be studying suggest ofstudying success instead just highlighting injuries that can be avoided. Las vegas, nevada, for 12 years has operated a program in cooperation with the police that helps over 3000 people who are in prison to return and be successful citizens. 40 of his mentors are Police Officers. They are mentoring some of the people they used to arrest. This is the kind of innovation we could we should be examining and learning from rather than always just pointing the accusing finger at the police and exempt ourselves from any responsibility. Host henry in de soto, texas. Good morning. Caller in this day and age, i atieve we are really adept trying to label people as liberal and conservative. This idea of defunding the police i do not believe is going to go away, especially during this pandemic. Tax revenues are low and, as a result, where will money come from to fund other things if it does not come from cutting certain things . Toh that said, the idea maybe say that that might be a liberal idea or something, think again about people that talk about government and shrinking government. This is an economic issue. This is economics. I know the thing about race and all like that. The common denominator is money. The people who have will always have, but people who do not have will not. Defunded,e police is there will be places that will be protected by police. It just will not be those areas that are less fortunate. Thank you. Guest you are absolutely right and that is my point. Particularly hollywood celebrities who are pouring 20 million into bailing out rioters and protesters are not making any distinction because they live in gated communities where there is private security. Many of them have Armed Security anywhere they go. Some of the people who are advocating ad time police advocating antipolice live in gated communities. This is why at the woodson represents lowincome people we need to not assume the people on television are not qualified are qualified to speak to people speak for people in those low income communities. It is patronizing to make decisions for someone else when you do not have to live with the consequences of that decision. Host this is maxine. Shes in michigan. Hello. Caller thank you for taking my call. I went to thank and congratulate mr. Woodson for the work he is doing, and hope that the black community will listen to him and stop listening to these black leaders that are in it for self gratification and what they can make off of this. I do agree with mr. Woodson completely. Thank you. Thank you but what i am trying i am trying to get honest discussion into this. When you see these demonstrations, they are against institutional racism, systemic racism. I do not know what that is. I wish someone would tell me what it is. They use demographics about inequities in black communities that exist high unemployment and whatnot. They assume that the problems that exist, black on black crime, low achievement they are saying, some of them, that this is a legacy of slavery and discrimination. That is just not true. Andreality is between 1940 de jureen we were segregation and blacks had much lower income, we did not have the black on black crime we have now. In the 1930s and 1940s during , people could not walk safely in those communities without fear of being mugged by their grandchildren. The question is one of the promises of the Civil Rights Movement. Officials, they would treat their people better. The question is why did we witness the kind of decline in the last 30 to 50 years in these cities controlled by black black officials elected officials . If race where the single issue, the question that gets avoided is why our black children, and schools customs in School Systems and other foster care systems, why are they failing and systems run by their own people . Discussed racial theitutional racism and inequities today as if the Civil Rights Movement never happened. That is something we need to discuss in this country. Host we have a viewer off of twitter who says the only time wasks had full employment during slavery. How do you answer to that . True. That is not in durham, north carolina, there are examples. It is called the black wall street. Businesses, 600 residences, our own insurance companies. Blacks in income for 1940 in durham was comparable to the medium Median Income of whites nationally. You talk about the education inequities. There were five high schools in america between 1899, dunbar high school, booker t. Washington, and other schools. Even though we had more crowding, used textbooks, half the money that white schools had, those schools outperformed all of the white schools in that district. At a time when white people were at their worst, blacks were at their best. If we could achieve excellence in at a time during segregation where we had no political representation, why cant we learn from the examples of what we achieved from the worst conditions and apply them today . It is just not true that we are always defined by the opposition. Host from gerald in maryland. Go ahead. You are on. Caller good morning. Mr. Woodson, how are you . This is gerald. Had the pleasure of working with mr. Woodson in the late 1990s. He was doing gang intervention and all the other work. Problem a serious gang was a serious gang problem here in d. C. In the late 1990s. I am still doing the work. The things that i learned at the 1990s. Center in the a young man brought in an idea. We are still doing it. We have had to postpone a few things, but the point is weve helped hundreds of young people. The model we are using, myself and the young people i am working with, is the model i learned from the Woodson Center in the late 1990s. Host ok. Thank you, gerald. Guest and that is my point. We need to concentrate and success on success and solutions. What concerns me about the current dialogue around institutional racism and black lives matter is that it is communicating to blacks that whatever problems you have, what it whether it is the diction, poor eating whether it is addiction, poor eating habits, it is not your fault. If you are killing each other, it is not your fault. If you are being miseducated, it is not your fault. You are the victims of institutional racism. Onlythat does is not exempt the person from personal responsibility but puts the power and control in the hands and says myple destiny is determined by what white people do and do not do. That is what troubling that is what is troubling about reparations and all this stuff. It is a recipe for failure. It is insulting, patronizing. Host i want to go back to the conversation we had before the break on Police Reform efforts, specifically in the case of george floyd. Were you suggesting that save that self policing within the Police Department is the best way to go about weeding out bad cops . Guest i think when Police Officers when we can make a to the rule of law prevail over loyalty to ones fellow officer, yes, that will go a long way to give police the expectation, create the expectation. You have to penetrate the police theure and insist that Police Police themselves and hold themselves to the same standards that they hold civilians. I think that was one strategy we ought to be pushing. That the might think Police Officers themselves would bond together in order to keep that from happening . Guest they may or may not. With the volunteer National Black Police Association in the 1970s and 80s. When there were fewer black officers and many of them would not respond to a crime in progress in civilian clothes because you would have a police shoot them thinking they were a perpetrator. What they used to do is call 911. What they came up with, though, is that if all Police Officers witness of Police Officer committing an illegal act, they pledge to arrest that officer. In black Police Association the 70s and 80s past that resolution among themselves that they would do that whether or not it was sanctioned by the department or the union. That is something that ought to be discussed as one of the remedies among others. Host Robert Woodson of the Woodson Center joining us for this conversation. Woodsoncenter. Org. We will go to georgia. Go ahead. Caller i would just like to say woodsoniate mr. Robert because he said one word that caught my attention and that was solutions. Police wereounger, not like they are today. It is almost like police are policing for profit to keep the courthouses full for the lawyers and people are being arrested areharassed for things that really not crimes. I mean, victimless crimes. I have examples. I am a white guy. And i have a great example of how mia and my two sons were harassed of how me and my two sons were harassed coming from colorado to georgia. We had georgia tags. We were bringing a camper home. My police the police pulled my son over first. We waited on him at the next exit. Law enforcement came to the camper where me and that my oldest son was and they brought a dog. They thought we was holland drugs from colorado we was iuling drugs from colorado, ed, and those cops made the dog hit on our camper. Untiler barked intel the Police Officer made it bark. All of us perhaps have an example. There are also examples of Police Officers saving lives, rescuing children. We ought to emphasize good things when they happen as well. There needs to be some balance in this discussion. You rewarde of what and less of what you punish. If the only time we talk about Police Officers is when there is some infraction, that is going to create a hostile environment. We also need to talk about when Police Officers do a heroic thing. There should be balance. From mimi in charlotte, north carolina. Good morning. You are on. Go ahead. Caller i want to talk about what mr. Robert woodson is talking about. We should not talk about what the police do. We have to because they are killing people that they should not be. They are always talking about what goes on in the black communities. They never talk about what goes on in the white communities. People commit a lot of crimes, white on white crime. The Police Officers are not killing explained to me why they are not killing white people . White people are out there killing people too . Why arent they doing them the same way they are doing black people . Host mr. Woodson. It is unfortunate all the attention has to be focused on what is happening with black people. I think you are right. The problem we need to be talking about was the proper role of police, but it ought to be a specific it ought to be a respectful discussion. The police should not have to prove that they are faithful to their duties. We should begin with an open mind and understand we need police in our country. Anarchy i do not ever want to live in a situation where there is an absence of police. I think it would be chaotic. Host mr. Woodson, there is a conversation going along with this, with the events of the last couple weeks about qualified immunity, whether changes are needed when it comes to Police Officers. Where do you stand on the issue . It has been a discussion point going along with what has been happening in the last couple weeks. Guest i do not know enough about it to comment on it. I do not know. Host loretta in north carolina. Good morning. Go ahead. Caller yeah. Woodson andk mr. Get this straight. I assume what youre saying is that the police should be allowed to do what they want to do in order to keep them and throwing a tantrum going into the communities and attracting people. Do what words, let them they want to do. What dopropose you think should be done to keep police from killing us. It sounds like youre on the payroll of the police and bill cosby and all those sorts of people. What should be done to keep cops from killing us, allowing, to hold each cops laer accountable is a la land dream. Guest police should be held to a higher standard than anyone else. Let me tell you personally that in my life i have lost a 29yearold brother who was killed, leaving behind of five children. A 17yearold niece who was raped and murdered. A nephew who was shot and killed by a young man he grew up with. And two other nephews put in intensive care. Not a single one of them was assaulted by white Police Officers. They were killed and assaulted by another black person. Problem ise the internal. Is where we ought to be addressing the problem right now. Only 1000 people are shot by Police Officers for whatever. 9000 blacks kill other blacks every year. I ask you where should our priorities lie if we really care about black lives . We ought to be taking steps like we do at the Woodson Center to help organizations within communities to reduce that violence. That is taking personal responsibility. Barriers weternal must face, but we also have a personal responsibility to take care of the internal problem. Host los angeles, california. Michelle, hello. Caller i have a question for you. There is a said that high incidence of black on black crime. So, the blacks do not care about black lives, why should anyone kills why should anyone else care . Your relatives were victims. There were many black victims out there. Their lives do matter and we should care about it. I am a little confused about your statement. Guest my point is the only time you see demonstrations like you are witnessing around the country is when a white person kills a black person. I carry around with me the picture of one of 20 young black children, all under the age of nine. Three years ago, in milwaukee, wisconsin, a fiveyearold girl was sitting on her grandfathers lap at the dinner table when a
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