Transcripts For CSPAN3 NFL Players Say Police Are On Front Lines Of Broken Justice System 20170403

The ftc have joined together in a common voice to say that as we move forward to evolving the frameworks for privacy of the future and trying to make them more consistent and harmonize, they will be acting together and in partnership to ensure that our consumers receive the kinds of privacy protections that they require. Watch the communicators, tonight at 8 00 eastern on cspan2. Next, nfl players anquan bolduan and jenkins the discussion was organized by Top Democrats on the House Oversight and yudishry committees and the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. This is just over 90 minutes. J of the Congressional Black Caucus. This is just over 90 minutes. U of the Congressional Black Caucus. This is just over 90 minutes. Ci chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. This is just over 90 minutes. D chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. This is just over 90 minutes. C chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. This is just over 90 minutes. Cr of the Congressional Black Caucus. This is just over 90 minutes. C of the Congressional Black Caucus. This is just over 90 minutes. D r of the Congressional Black Caucus. This is just over 90 minutes. I chair of c commiti committees a good afternoon and welcome to this Congressional Forum entitled nfl players speak up, firsthand experiences and Building Trust between communities and police. Todays forum is an opportunity for nfl players to provide their own take on what it was like for them growing up in their hometown communities and what theyre doing now to make productive change to build Greater Trust between minority communities and the police. Ive often said that the police need the community and the Community Need the police. I would like to start by thanking my cohosts for this forum. Representative john conyers is the topranking democrat on the house Judiciary Committee. He has been a tremendous leader for decades, just not on criminal justice issues, but on a wide variety of Critical Issues that face this country. In fact, we have a portrait of him hanging in our room because he also used to be the chairman of this very committee. I also want to welcome my colleagues, representative Cedric Richmond who serves as the chair of the congressional black cause us, representative Sheila Jacksonlee who is the Ranking Member on the Homeland Security and investigations, representative Brenda Lawrence who is a distinguished member of our Oversight Committee and who has championed so many of the issues that were going to be talking about today and so im honored that all of them are here today. What we are going to do is have each of our hosts give a short Opening Statement and we will limit it just to those members that i mentioned and then we will ask our panelists to give their statements because i really want to hear from these distinguished gentlemen. Then we will open it up to all members to ask questionses a an will see how far we can get by 12 30 when we ask players when theyll be able to leave and we appreciate you all for taking the time to be here. We are here to discuss ways to build Greater Trust between police and minority communities. We also want to discuss concrete proposals to help former inmates who have done their time and are leaving prison to Reenter Society and make meaningful contributions to the neighborhoods in which they lived. Many of you know i live in the inner city of baltimore, and i see the men and women coming back every day, and so many of them have, but one question. Mr. Cummins, can you give me a job . I dont want to go out here and hurt nobody, but ive got to have a job. I hear that over and over and over again. Community policing has garnered several attention following the killings of unarmed africanamericans. As you know my own hometown in baltimore is one of many communities across the country working to repair the fractured relationship between police and communities they serve. We also need to ensure that individuals returning to society from prison have the tools they need to rejoin their society. According to the nacp in 2001, one in six africanamerican men living in this country have been incarcerated. Think about that statistic and the Ripple Effect it has on families and communities throughout the country. We must work to ensure that everyone, our fellow citizens and our Law Enforcement officials and everyone treats them with respect and we afford them the opportunities to find gainful employment and get an education and support themselves and their families. I will soon be reintroducing legislation to give formerly incarcerated individuals a better chance of getting a federal job. My bill called the fair chance act would ban the government from requesting criminal history information from job applicants until the end of the hiring process. This is also known as ban the box. It would help people looking to contribute to their communities in the country. We know for a fa account that President Trump has worked hard and continues to work to push back on many of the reforms that president obama had put through, but we must fight until the death because these are things that are so important to our community. Finally, i know Ranking Member conyers is working on Bipartisan Legislation which i will let him describe to provide incentives to help local police ensure that misconduct is minimized and fully investigated. These issues have been important to me for as long as ive served in the congress, and i know the same is true for each of our members who are here today and the entire Congressional Black Caucus. Finally, i would like to thank our players anquan bolduan, and Anton Jenkins for their stories today. I see hank johnson, congressman hank johnson from georgia has joined us. Hank, thank you for being with us. And so i i know that all of you are preparing for spring practice so i truly appreciate you taking your time from your schedules to be with us today. Also, i know that you lost a loved one to a police encounter, and i want to extend my deepest condolences to you and your family for your loss. We cannot turn a blind eye to these incidents. We must bring communities together to seize the moment and restore the sacred trust between Law Enforcement officers and their communities. Dr. Goff, i want to thank you for being here and your expertise in the area of police and minority communities will add a great deal to this forum. I appreciate the attendance of all of our panelists and i look forward to hearing your stories and discussing proposed solutions to these vexing problems. With that, ill yield to mr. Conyers. Congressman conyers. Thank you. Chairman Elija Cummings and all my colleagues here and i want to particularly point out my colleague from detroit, michigan, Brenda Lawrence for her fantastic work. She may be a new member to some of you, but she is the new mayor of a major suburban detroit city, so she comes in with lots of experience and is particularly qualified to be here in the setting. Thank you so much, and rest of my colleagues, i dont have to say much about the chairman and hank johnson in georgia, but let me just make a brief Opening Statement complimenting what chairman cummings has already said and of course, to our particular witnesses, what a pleasure to have them with us, as always. For the better part of two decades, the relationship between africanamerican communities and their Police Departments across the nation have hovered in a state of volatility awaiting a single incident to combust and explode. These tensions have grown as allegations of biasbased policing by Law Enforcement agencies, sometimes supported by Data Collection efforts and Video Evidence have increaseded in number and frequency. While the current wave of National Tension was triggered by the controversial shooting of Michael Brown in ferguson, missouri on august 9, 2014, the sensibilities of the nation have also been shocked by other highprofile policeinvolved shooting of more than 30 unarmed africanamerican and latino men. Overall, more than 250 africanamerican men were killed in Police Incidents in 2016. Im going to repeat that. Overall, more than 250 africanamerican men were killed in Police Incidents in 2016. Against this backdrop, these same communities have been ground zero in the socalled war on drugs. There is bipartisan agreement that our nation has a crisis of overincarceration, mass incarceration with 2. 2 Million People imprisoned in this country. Thats a ratio thats higher than i think any other nation that we know of. One of the main reasons for this catastrophic level of incarceration is the use of mandatory minimum sentencing which often imposes sentences that are not appropriate for the facts and culpability of individual cases. Once released, these people face the prison after prison where they can experience both housing and employment discrimination due to their criminal records. These burdens can be so great that over half are reincarcerated within three years of their release. All of this disproportionately impacts africanamericans and is a major factor impacting the quality of life in our families and communities. It simmers down and spreads out. Its not just individual tragedies. The rise of activism triggered by the disparities in our criminal Justice System has touched diverse parts of our communities. Harken back to the Civil Rights Era of the 1960s, people have taken to the streets to proclaim that black lives matter and to seek justice for those who have died. Today we are joined by members of the National Football league. What an honor. This is the second hill visit by the National Football League Players and we look forward to building further links with Nfl Players Association to raise awareness around our justice agenda. Your presence here is invaluable to us, and as we recognize the price that some of your colleagues are paying their activism, we know that your appearance here is meaningful and not without risk to your livelihood, although it shouldnt be. Ultimately, i believe that your activism will inspire others to raise their voices for justice. Let no one mistake make the mistake of believing that the search for justice in america is anything less than an important act of patriotism. And so i salute you and i thank the chairman and yield back. . Thank you very much, mr. Conyers. Congresswoman richmond, chairman of the congressional black cause us. Thank you, Ranking Member Elijah Cummings and he has a super bowl ring and jacoby jones from new orleans should have been the mvp of that game and now to my colleague to my right from detroit, we are praying for you all. To my colleague to my left from atlanta, i just cant say much. Let me thank you all for stepping off the field and stepping back into the real life that you all lived before you made it to the nfl and before you played in college to get out of your comfort zone, but to actually give back and fight for issues that are critical and we dont see it enough, but you all do it and most of our africanamerican male athletes do it. You only get attention for doing the right thing, but you only get attention for doing the wrong thing. Reforming our criminal Justice System is without a doubt the number one civil rights issue of our time. The Racial Disparities and discrimination across the Justice System are undeniable. Africanamericans make up 13 of the United States population, but we account for 35 of jail inmates and 37 of prison inmates. Africanamericans and whites use drug at similar rates and we are significantly more likely to be arrested. Lets think back to when the crack epidemic hit our communities back in the 1980s. The solution was a war on drugs that put thousands and thousands of people in jail, particularly africanamerican males and were faced with an Opioid Epidemic that is ravaging all communities and i answer to the opioid addiction. Rightfully so as treating it as addiction and a Health Crisis where we are investing in Mental Health and Addiction Services and doing those thing, but in the 80s the answer was to just lock everybody up, and i think that as we talk about the Opioid Epidemic we still have to go back and remember that there are a significant number of people that are still doing time for crack cocaine when the sentence disparity was so out of whack, but we need to overhaul the entire Justice System and we need to reform it from end to end, from the way Police Interact with our communities, the communities they serve, to the resources that we provide, to hundreds of thousands of prisoners that are returning to our communities every year. We need to ban racial profiling. We need to invest in our police. Right now we are understaffed, undertrained and overworked police into communities that have been ravaged by neglect and expect them to maintain law and order. We need more resources for communityoriented policing that puts Law Enforcement and Community Leaders on the same side of the debate so that they can solve problems together. We need our attorney general to use his power to stamp out discriminatory patterns and practices of Police Departments and enforce Consent Decrees that hold police accountable. We need to ban private prisons and actually correct inmates in the correctional system. They should earn a trade or degree so that they can make something of themselves once they get out. We need to eliminate all of the bans and barriers who prevent people who have served their time and who get trades to actually perform those trades. In louisiana, for example, there are 321 professions that you cannot do if you were formerly incarcerated. Although you learn to cut hair or do hair in prison you cant get a barber or beauticians license because you were formerly incarcerated and we need to invest more resources into programs that help inmates when they return home. Programs like the first 72 in new orleans so i would just say that members of the Congressional Black Caucus, were dedicated to partnering with you and doing everything that we can do to help you, and i will just say that we also have to focus on the children of incarcerated people because we incarcerated so many africanamerican males, the africanamerican male may be in jail, but the family is doing the time, and i will just tell you that mark ingram from alabama plays for the new Orleans Saints started a nonprofit specifically to deal with children of incarcerated people. So let me again thank you all for what youre doing. We are here, the black Congressional Black Caucus are here as willing partners to help you fight what youre doing and dr. Goff, let me just tell you thank you for what youre doing and we will partner with you also. So call up on us as you need us. Thank you. With that, i yield back, mr. Chairman. Just to reiterate what our chairman said, dr. Goff. One of the things the chairman has been excellent on, and i applaud him for this is trying to figure out how we can be effective and efficient in whatever we do and so the expertise that you will bring to council us and to let us know our energy because you can go in a circle and not get to where you want to go and i know and all of us on the caucus want to make sure were effective and the chairman has emphasized this and im hoping that you will continue your efforts even after this hearing to help us out. Sheila jacksonlee, congresswoman from texas. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I hope you all can hear me and thank you to mr. Chairman cummings and chairman conyers, delighted to be able to cohost this with you. Delighted to be here with my colleagues, congresswoman lawrence congressman richmond and as well congressman johnson who is here. Let me just show you a picture and its probably far away that you can see it. Two little children, three little children, one would ask the question what they have in common, but im going to ask you, are you a few years older than a preschooler. Raise your hand, witnesses, a little bit. I dont want our members because they might be way beyond that. The connection is and the reason why your testimony is so very important is the disparate treatment that africanamerican children and children of color might get even as preschools one might say from 0 to 3. We have just determined by Scientific Research that children of color or preschoolers are more apt to be suspended. Can you believe that . You are suspended at the age of 2 or 3 or 4 or that youre in handcuffs, a little 6yearold where they had to put both hands in one cuff . So what you are doing today is crucial and as a Ranking Member on the subcommittee i want to focus on juvenile justice and who better than you to begin to talk about how africanamerican men are treated and how they begin to be treated as boys. How the respect for them does not exist from Early Education to primary and secondary education and then the criminal Justice System, solitary confinement for juveniles, the idea has been promoted. You make your way. You overcome and you have to report on your College Application whether you were arrested as a juvenile or rather than find an alternative for you you are in the juvi, youre in a detention or in a jail, and in and young africanamericans, americans, people who deserve dignity. In addition to your presence here today, i want to respond. I dont think one republican should be left out of meritorious legislation that deals with the crisis of eric dwa g garner, michael rice, trayvon martin. I wanted to end on this note and you wanted you to see the picture of these three little children of color, think that you are here in their name. On april 4th, the 49th commemoration of the assassination of dr. Martin luther king. He was reaching out nor civil rights and economic rights and peace against war. Our numbers were comparable that we were also incarcerated but incarcerated as well you, struck down because we wrantanted more rights for our people. His dream is living through you. We can not cease. I will not rest until we get leg legitimate response to what your testimony will be from the federal level, legitimate laws that speak as opposed to mourn what you are saying. Help us pass legislation that deals with the autrocity of locking up preschoolers. They are in school and the horrible system that should not be a penalty, punity system but one for role models. I look forward to working with my colleagues. Thank you very much, congresswoman lawrence of michigan. I want to thank you for being here and how important this is. When you have the dean assigned to civil rights and an amazing voice and face of equality and the leader in our community, my Ranking Member here serving today and then i have my chair of congressional black caucas, Cedrick Richmond, with us. The other members who are here. I am honored to be in their presence. What i want to say is, thank you. Thank you for taking the time and compassion to use your bully platform to be an agent of change. Every last one of us, you dont need to be elected to an office. You dont need to be an nfl player but someone that cares enough to make a change and use Life Experiences to turn them around to be positive. Twothirds of young africanamericans and 4 out of 10 hispanics say they are someone that has experienced violence or harassment at the hands of police. Im a mother of a son. Did i have that conversation with him about how to conduct himself . He grew up in a sub besh of detroit. Detroit is our home. We are there all the time. Driving around in suburban communities, make sure, i dont want you driving with a car with a whole lot of your boys. If there are more than two of you in a car, you might be subjected to being pulled over. Of creating awareness. Right now, we are in the minority. Our job in congress is never to let injustice lie silent. I am here with my colleague, hank johnson, who is a person from a southern state, who has history as well. Please know that you are here today because you have our commitment to work with you. We have a lot of work to do. To say in america if i am an africanamerican, if im a minority, i automatically assume and prepare myself to be treated differently is unacceptable. It is unacceptable. I am here today to make sure that we continue to use all of our power and passion to make a difference. I yield back. Mr. Johnson does not have a statement. I will say at this time that this issue of relations between the police and africanamericans is something that we as africanamericans have to live with every day. Ill tell you back the first of march i was out at Walter Reed Army Medical Center going into the gate. I had my suit on, my gray hair, rushing for an appointment, looking distinguished and everything, as i always do, and had a little incident at the gate with a 23yearold, a hot firecracker in terms of how he wanted to talk to me and how he approached me, in a threatening way, in a threatening voice. If this guy had been a civilian, because he was a military m. P. If he had been a civilian and it was under other circumstances, like it was dark and we were somewhere off by ourselves and he had the gun and i did not, it would have been an explosive situation. Even i, as a congressman, going to a military facility, have to deal with. As a followup to that, even trying to get it resolved by higherups, i still dont have a resolution as of yet you, same guy was out there last week in the same location, doing the work that he really is not psychologically equipped to do. He is still out there doing it. We have to go extra to make sure we protect ourselves from these threats that are always looming out there. With that, i yield back z we have been joined by congressman lacy clay of missouri. It is my understanding he does not have a statement. We are going to move on to our panelists. We would ask you that you summarize your statement ns about five minutes. If you have to go longer, please do. I want to try to make sure we have enough time for questions. Trying to be effective and judicious. We will start with you, malquco jenkins. There is a mike. All right. Thank you, representative Elijah Cummings and mr. Connier for having us and giving us this time to schauer and speak. It is an honor for us. I created a foundation and started working in communities, underserved communities that i lived in or played ball in in 2010 and as of right now, we are in four different states, new jersey, where im from, ohio where i went to Ohio University and new orleans and philadelphia pennsylvania where i play with the eagles. It has been very, very important for me to give back to these communities, specially these underserved communities. I see the impact. I have had experiences along my way that have gotten me to where i am. We do things that an array of different programs, stems, scholarships. We understand the impact that those type of programs have. The programs do not change the environment our youth go back to, poor neighborhood, crimeridden neighborhoods and communities that are broken. So at the height of last summer when you had the shooting of all ton shooting and philandro cass stealth, i took it upon myself to get involved. Myself and a few teammates and Community Leaders sat down with philly p. D. And had a frank conversation about how we can reconcile this relationship between our communities and our Law Enforcement, which led to myself doing a ridealong with the police to get a look into their world. I undersftand being a black man but i am not a Police Officer. To get a better understanding, we wanted to have this conversation and dialogue to have a real conversation. What came out of that was, an opportunity. We realized that Police Brutality and the relationship and where we are is a symptom of the bigger system. Laws and policies that are in place that allow for brutality or mistreatment to happen. Our criminal Justice System, disparities in which it affects the africanamerican communities and communities of color far greater than anybody else. How that has created a cycle, that has created mistrust and frustration in these communities and how our police force are the front line of that Justice System. So sometimes it is impossible for us to mend this relationship when the system behind you leads to mistrust. There is no trance earn peacy. Transparency. With that in mind, i began to look at pennsylvania and what was going on with our Justice System. What i learned, was that pennsylvania leads the nation in incarcerating or giving juveniles life sentences without parole. I went to rayford prison and sat down with a group of six prisoners to talk and hear some of their thoughts and frustrations. Foyer out of these six men were juvenile livers, all of which have been incarcerated longer than i have been alive. One went in at 14 in 1987 and still incarcerated. In pennsylvania, kids are automatically tried as adults for crimes such as aggravated assault, robbery, carjacking or kidnapping, even if they are accomplices, whether or not they committed the crime themselves. They get tried as adults. We spend about 42 no,000 per inmate per year. If you look at the system, it is flawed. Everyone knows it is flawed. You look at the federal system as a guideline to set the trajectory of where we want the states to go. In our federal system, 50 of the people are there for nonviolent drug offenses and the uses of mandatory minimums and how that has created a pipeline of people to be incarcerated. In the 50 , the overwhelming evidence that shows that the majority of those are from africanamerican, brown communities. We look at the recidivism rate and the long list of things that hinder you once you serve your time and pay your debt to society, how we expect these men and women to come out of our system and be Productive Systems that give back and raise the value of their community but we dont give them opportunities to vote in some states. We dont give them opportunities to get jobs. We discriminate against them. They serve time long after they are rereleased back in our neighborhoods. Twothirds of those people will be back or rea rested. These are things that nid eed t change. Myself and anquan, over the last three days, in our second trip back to the hill were able to meet with republicans, democrats on both sides and what we heard was that there has been bipartisan effort to attack criminal Justice Reform. There has been support. So our question as concerned citizens, if there is so much sport, if everyone agrees and knows the statistics about how our Justice System is not giving justice, what is holding it back . That question really has been answered with the lack of priority. We are here to use our leverage, our voices to make sure that our families, our communities, our kids are a priority to the people here on capitol hill and this administration and the rest of this nation. It is costing us money. We spend 80 billion a year locking our own citizens up. We lead the entire world in incarceration. It is ruining lives. In all of that, it creates doubt and mistrust in our Justice System. When you erode our Justice System, that trickles down to every other system behind that. There is no way to instill trust or build a relationship between our police when our police are front line of a broken system. Weve seen bills and legislation be brought forth but not pushed through. What we encourage, we challenge to reintroduce all the Bipartisan Legislation that addresses these things and not sleep until these things get accomplished. I appreciate the ftime allowing me to share. That is all. Thank you very much. Thank you. Anquan boldin . Ranking member cummings, Ranking Member conyers, representative jackson, Congressional Black Caucus chairman, richmond, congressman clay, congresswoman lawrence and congressman johnson, i would like to say thank you for inviting me to this form rum today. I believe the issues we discuss here are critically important to the communities across our country. I also believe that they can be solved. These issues which include Building Trust between police and communities end ing in the mass incarceration and promoting the successful formerly incarcerated into the communities are vital components of criminal Justice Reform that benefits from consistent bipartisan support. These issues are also consistently pushed to the political background. I believe that working together we can not only move it to the political forefront, but we can make measurable and meaningful and sustainable change in our communities. I want you to understand that criminal Justice Reform in particular, police, and community relations, is an issue that i come to very personally. In october of 2015, my cousin, corey jones, was driving home from a show with his band. Around 2 00 a. M. , his car broke down on the side of the highway. While he was waiting for help, a cargo van pulled up. Not a police car. A van pulled up. I want to emphasize two important points. First, it was a white van, not a police car. Second, the man that stepped out of that van, officer new man roger, was not wearing a uniform. He was wearing blue jeans, sneakers, a tan tshirt and a baseball hat. My cousin had no way of knowing he was dealing with a Police Officer. Moments later, corey was dead. The official report from the States Attorney Office said that mr. Roger fired six shots. His final three shots were fired more deliberately according to the report. One shot every three seconds. Consider corey was a good kid. His granddaddy and mine were brothers. I have known him my whole life. Never a kid to give trouble. Every sunday, you could find him in church playing the drums. His faith couldnt keep him alive. How do you goi from spending all of your sundays playing the drum ns church, working hard to support your family and waiting for help on the side of the road to being dead. For me, it doesnt add up. I wish i could tell you coreys story was unique. I wish i could tell you now, over a year later, we know exactly what happened and that the issue was resolved. I wish i quo tecould tell you c didnt die in the first place. I wish i wasnt here talking to you at all but i am. One of the hardest parts of this whole experience has been the lack of understanding about what happened, why it happened and what is happening in the legal process. The lack of transparency is only hurting any trust that remains between police and the community where im from. It is a problem facing so many other communities. The community i come from wants and needs to know that they are being heard. We want to make sure that you, that those in position bring positive change, undersftand th things that we, as an Africanamerican Community, are going through. We certainly do not feel we are being heard right now specially when it comes to Law Enforcement and the way we are being policed. Our neighborhoods are feeling hurt and they want to see change. This is where you come in. We want to see changes in policy in terms of how we train and support our police. We also want to see accountability. We want to know that justice will be served for all. The relationship between the Africanamerican Community and police can be better. This is work to be done on both sides, because there is a huge gap of mistrust. Im here today because i want to help clothes thse that gap. The federal groovernment has an Important Role to play here given the criminal grants and the federal governments oversight responsibilities. Specifically, im here to ask for your support on two key issues. First, we need the Judiciary Committee to convenient hearings on criminal Justice Reform. The ish husue has consistently received bipartisan report on legislation of the secondchance act, the fair chance act and Law Enforcement trust and integrity act. Legislation like the Law Enforcement trust and integrity act takes a comprehensive approach at addressing Police Accountability and Building Trust between police the Company Departments and their communities. It provides incentives for local police, organizations to voluntarily adopt performancebased standards. These would insure the number of incidents of misconduct will be minimalized and any incidents that do happen like in the case of my cousin, corey, will be properly investigating. It encourages Police Departments to pursue accreditation, best practices, training and other resources that will promote fair and just policing. The legislation also requires mandatory Data Collection and reporting on Police Community encounters. Sefrn certainly, we can not fix a problem we can not measure. These policies would increase incidents of Police Misconduct and ensure when incidents do happen like in the case of my cousin they will be properly investigated. These important pieces of legislation also ensure that police offices, the vast majority whom are compaaring, committed and compassionate individuals, dedicated to the communities they serve, are given the tools necessary to do the job well. There are skefeveral members of family in Law Enforcement who are role models for their profession and community. We need to make sure they are supported and equipped to perform to the best of their abilities. Federal resources Like Community oriented policing services, better known as c. O. P. S. Offices. It has done so much to build bridges and restore hope in our communities. The programs elimination or any significant reduction of it will be an enormous step backwards for police and community relations. The programs funded by the cops office are krid cal to saving Police Officers lives and protecting our communities. The programs that support Community Policing effort and are geared toward highly trained Community Police officers are seeing results. Xhaunts that receive these grants are seeing reduction in crime rates but are harder to measure the increase in trust. Police supported by cops programs are getting out of their vehicles and leading their communities and building a relationship that make a longterm difference. These are exactly the kinds of programs that request make a difference which you can help move forward and that you can help us leave a legacy that we will all be proud of. I came to washington in november of last year to learn about what is being done, to support criminal Justice Reform and what role i can play to support reform efforts. I am here again today to continue this work and let you know i am committed to using my voice and platform to do whatever i can to help improve our neighborhoods for police and the communities they live in. Thank you for your time and your commitment to these issues. Thank you very much. Dr. Goff . Good morning. Good afternoon. Chairman cummings, congressman conyers, congresswoman jacksonlee, congressman richmond, congressman clay, congressman johnson, mr. Bolden, mr. Jenkins and everyone that has chosen to spend time on this incredibly important issue. Thank you for inviting me. Im honored to be the nerd in the room. Before i begin my remarks, i feel compelled to mention that i was born in the greatest city of the history of the world, philadelphia. Im a lifelong member of eagles nation, fly, eagles, fly. Thank you, mr. Jenkins. Dont appreciate all that laughter but we will move forward. Today, im here in my capacity as a Research Scientist and as the president of the center for policing equity. I have dedicated the majority of my adult life to using social science in the pursuit of a more democratic society. Before i was a research sips matt ti scientist, i was black. I have been black my entire life with a possible exception of the week i took off in college. I am here because of science and the experience so familiar to black men and boys around the country. The lies, the myths about our intellect, our loyalty and our temperaments, those are part of the reason we are here today. I, like so many others have worked my entire life to become evidence of the truth even in the face of the lies they tell about men and boys that look like me. I as a Research Scientist and black man would like to share three myths holding us back from racial progress and policing. The first myth is that we can not move forward because there is no National Level data ton policing. It is true no federal agency currently collects National Level data on what Police Officers do in the streets object Police Behavior despite collecting data on crimes civilians admit. It is also without measuring a problem, almost nearly impossible to craft a solution to it. It is not the case that because federal government does not collect the data that no one has them. Many Police Departments collect the data and the center for policing equity hosts the National Justice database of Police Officer behavior. We boast commitments from Police Departments serving ruffle onethird of the United States by population. The National Database collection standardizes data on police stops, use of force and officers racial orientation. We collect informations through surveys on explicit and implicit bias. This effort that was slow going when we first got started more than five years ago has been bolstered by a partnership with google. It will allow us to reduce the time of participating and our anal siz, which says this is where the responsibility is for these Racial Disparities. It used to take six months. We are going to be very closer to a time frame that looks like six minutes, rapidly approaching a time when there will not be a plausible excuse for departments knowing how to address issues of race in their communities. To say we can not do better because we do not have the data is quickly becoming an outdated claim and a myth that holds us back from achieving progress. The second myth, that crime drives all Police Behavior and, therefore, crime explains Racial Disparities and policing outcomes. Let me say this as plainly as i possibly can. That is factually inaccurate. It is not true. Do not believe it. While crime plays a large role in explaining Racial Disparities, it is not sufficient to explain the rates in which blacks afrnd latinos are stopped and searched and targeted for police force. This is beyond the center for policing equities own report of this past summer. It represents the best information for Research Methodologies and time periods. We should be skeptical for those that blame communities alone for how they are treated. It also means that attacking crime without addressing Police Culture will not fix the problem. The third myth i want to address is the inverse of the last. That is, just as crime does not sufficientlily explain Racial Disparities, policing is not the only cause either. If we imagine there is Racial Discrimination going on in policing, why would we be foolish enough to say it is not in employment, housing, education, health care outcomes. All of those disparities. All of that discrimination happens upstream of any vidcon tact with Law Enforcement. That is to say if we see Racial Disparities of policing, they may be a symptom of a broader case of Racial Discrimination. Let me frame it to you yet another way. There is no chief who would last very long in her or his job if every time someone called 911, they heard, nah, you are probably just racist. We are not coming. The bias sis of a community will be reflected in the behavior of their police. When the laws of this land are racist, it is the job of the police to enforce them. I hear regularly from Law Enforcement that do not like that part of their job. Any are crying out for us to save them from the laws they are forced to enforce. That is the responsibility for the damage we see done by policing in some communities cannot belong solely to Law Enforcement. The responsibilities for policing inequalities must be claimed by all of us. We own this. As a democracy, as a nation, if it continues, 24e7b then then i because we allow it. We have the standard to reveal racial bias and distinguish responsibilities for disparities between police and the rest of us, those upstream factors. Armed with the knowledge we are gaining from the national incompetent ish tiff for Building Community trust and justice, a project led by the center of policing equity, the National Center for sale communities and the urban institute in collaboration with this u. S. Department of justice, we know that there are interventions that simultaneously improve officer safety, reduce crime and increase community trust. We know what the science says and we have to have faith that the truth of the science and justice are the same thing. There are no excuses for not getting better. No amount of executive Branch Investment or disinterest in criminal Justice Reform removes the urlt matt responsibility from the people of this nation. No lies we tell about police, black and brown men, women and children, no lies we tell about america make them the truth. Inequality in policing is a fixable problem. It requires we add our collective will to what science has already taught us, that we add our resolve to the truth. Thank you for your time. Thank you. We will go to questions now. Mr. Conyers. I remind the members that the gentlemen will be leaving at 12 30. In courtesy to other members, i ask you to be brief. Thank you. Im going to combine my questions so that we will expedite this process. Thank you all for your excellent testimony. I want to ask these questions and you can take a piece of it, any of you that have an initial response. I have dr. Goffs name down. President bush supported the racial profiling act and get Data Collection. How can we encourage our current president to take this step . This is not an academic exercise that we are in here today. The question is what are one, two, three, four, five whar, whe we five members going to take back to our caucuses, the Congressional Black Caucus, to o our house Judiciary Committee . I would like you to think about this. This is the, what do we do about this part of our coming together today . And thank you, again, for your excellent testimony. Thank you for your question, congressman conyers. If someone comes to you and says they have a problem with money, you might ask them, whats your budget say . If they say they dont have one, they are not taking the question seriously. If someone comes to me in my classroom and says, i am having a problem, i not sure i am going to get the great i want, i say, tell me where you are struggling in the sill abyss. They say, i dont have one. They are not taking it seriously. If we are not measuring what happens, we are not taking the problem seriously. One of the uncovered angle of the issue of criminal Justice Reform, particularly in policing, that this can be a good story about race in america. Black communities, brown communities, want accountability and trust of Law Enforcement and Law Enforcement so frequently wants the same thing. We work closely with Law Enforcement. The National Database is a response to what Law Enforcement is asking for. They want to know whats going on. They dont have the capacity to do the Data Analysis that professional nerds do. I am not in position to speak with President Trump but i am with many governors and attorneys general and the states. It is very straightforward for a governor or attorney general to say, we will support Law Enforcement for doing it. We now have the infrastructure necessary to save time and money. The center for policing equity charges nothing. Those of you who have seen me before recognize the suit. It is the same one i wear every time i come in. We dont draw a salary from this. It is possible to get it done. The people that are concerned about Law Enforcement and support Law Enforcement all want t the question is, why is the will not there . That would be the question i might put in your pocket to ask if you ever had the opportunity. Thank you. I just want to ask another question and i want our other panelists to join in. This is my last one. What is noble about the National Organization of black executives Law Enforcement . Tell me how we can coordinate with them and where we may go from here and all three of you can participate if you want. If you know. It came to me. So noble is a wonderful organization. They organize many of the captain, chiefs, and lieutenants in Law Enforcement around the country. One way the Congressional Black Caucus, congress and the entire federal government can be partnering with them is to come together with common sense statements about what we know works. For instance, when we are cracking down on communities, not individuals, not criminals but communities, it drives crime underground and makes all of us less safe and people less willing to work with Law Enforcement and actually endangers members of that community. Chiefs dont want to do that. They have a harder time coming forward. Getting the common sense in the Public Record is a wonderful way to work with noble. I would encourage you all to work with them. I want to yield to Cedrick Richmond if he has a comment about this. I know he is deeply involved. And noble does have principles on policing. In fact, the caucas will bespeak with them, i believe, next weekend. The Community Policing group that Sheila Jackson lee and i are both a part of, we have met with noble and we have talked to Law Enforcement all around the country. I will say i dont remember if it was malcolm or anquan that brought up Community Police and the funding of grants. Thats one thing we all agree on. When you talk about secondchance, those are issues that came up last wednesday when we met with the president. We challenged him to get out of his comfort zone and to engage on those issues. We are going to follow up with the vicepresident on those issues. Weve passed the point of the law of diminishing returns. Every dollar we spend on incarceration makes our communities less safe that could go ton recreation, afterschool programs. Mr. Chairman, i have to leave but i want to make a couple of offers. First offer is to dr. Goff. I would like the caucus to partner with you so that i believe your data, our voice, nobles expertise, we could come together from all the policy points to issue some commonly agreed upon principles that are common sense but we have to highlight. To mr. Bolden and mr. Jenkins, we will as a caucus continue to do what we have been doing. We are in the same space. We are pushing for comprehensive criminal Justice Reform. We want it to be aggressive for mandatory minimums to giving juvenile lifers at an opportunity at patrol one day. The fights that you all have engaged on, some of us have been fighting for our whole life and i remember going to angola pen ten yaer. They had served more time in jail than i had been on earth. It took us 4 1 2 years but all of those guys are home now. The legacy he see of people up here is a legacy of hard work to change it. To the extent that we both can elevate our voice together, i think we should do that. Behind you is someone o wwho wo for a paper that can write. I think we should take the opportunity to do op eds and other things together to raise not our communitys awareness of it but the countrys wearness of it and create the environment where it has to be done. Thats what you all have started today. Let us help you get it across the finish line. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you. I am going to come to you, miss lawrence, in a minute. I want to go back to you, dr. Goff. In baltimore, we just had the patterns and practice, something that i fought hard for. The investigation of the d. O. J. There was a stat in there that jumped out to me. It said over the course of four or five years, you had 300,000 pedestrian stops. Instead of that 300,000 pedestrian stops, less than 4 ended in an arrest or a citation. Now, when i talk to the police, they said congressman, it wasnt 300,000 stops. It was like 1. 7 million. Baltimore is so big. Which means that that 4 of 300,000, that number, stays the same. I thought about what you said when you talk about criminal many activity about this myth. So na doesnt surprise me. What i just said doesnt surprise you. I cant hear you. No, not at all. Weve been working in baltimore. Im excited to share some of the things we found. If doesnt surprise me in baltimore or many major cities that pedestrian stops are underreported and the return of contraband and arrests is very, very low. What advise would you have when you went from a Holder Lynch Justice Department to a sessions Justice Department and the idea we know how sessions feels about Consent Decrees. What advice would you have for us as a caucus . Trying to stay in the center of the science and avoid politics as i can, the nerd sweet spot, if you will. Let me tell you a little bit about what we are doing in baltimore and how that can be a model how we move forward. In baltimore, we have partnered with the open Society Institute to conduct a residents survey. Community voices have never been counted as we think about the performance of Law Enforcement. Think have never been apart of the accountability metrics we set up. Soy, instead, what we are looking at is whether or not crime is going up or down as if that should be the seoul purview of police. If it goes up a tick or down a small amount at the cost of community trust, here is the secret every police chief knows and is not willing to say on camera. Crime is only what people people comfortable calling the police about. Crime can be going up but people may not be calling. If we start measuring community trust, Community Cooperation and the amount of times that people see illegal behavior but refuse to cooperate and call it in, i currently live in new york and they have posters, see something, say something. If we can measure that, we have the capacity to reframe the conversation about how police are working. Here is one other piece i want to give everybody. We have been talking about law and order, as if that is the solution about crime. We need to center, if we care about people who are vulnerable, center the voices of the vulnerable. When you ask victims of crime, how they feel about the Justice System. Here are three things i want you to take away. By a 151 margin, they prefer investment in schools than harsher punchment, they prefer investments in jobs than a harsher punishment, people that have been victimized by a 31 margin, they prefer the person that victimized them not spr to go to jail. If how victims are feeling about crime, what right do the rest of us have to use harsher punishment as a solution to their problems. What we dont think about is the victims of crime live in the communities where these folks are their neighbors. I give that back as a way to think about how we push forward. Thank you, again. I wanted to highlight as we talked about the uptick or the disproportionate amount of prison in the Africanamerican Community, i want to make sure we include the female africanamerican population that are being imprisoned. When you imprs son a woman, you usually imprison the life of the children. The last point i want to make, the job piece is so critical. In michigan, we have started a virtual Welding Program to teach those that are going to be paroled a skill or a trade. It is very concerning to me. I thought i heard you clearly, mr. Boleyn, what is your priority. To me, thats the priority. If your priority is not driving your actions, your words mean nothing. If you tell me criminal Justice Reform is a priority but you dont legislate it or fund it, then your words are not truthful. Im very concerned about that. We have to continue to understand we have to address the issue of women, an increasing number of africanamerican women being imprisoned and we must fund secondchance programs. Look at banding the box, all those things to ensure that if i made a mistake, if i did something wrong, if i, as a young person, made a decision that was not the best or i just didnt know i was hungry or i needed it so i committed a crime. In society and in america, we believe that you can be rebill taited, then your laws and funding should reflect that. Thank you and lets stay on the battlefield. Thank you, miss lawrence. In baltimore, we had our disturbances. One of the things that we have spent a lot of time doing is talking to the police. I found the police did not i felt like i was an interpreter for the brothers that live into my neighborhood. We were able to avoid a lot of violence. When mr. Jenkins said he did the ridearounds and that kind of thing, going back to affecting this and efficiency, these gentlemen want to be helpful. I know that police look at them as heroes and great sports players and great citizens. How much impact can they have on the police . I know you have several methods. Im trying to figure out how to take their desire and make it most effective and efficient is to change things. Go ahead. There are so many things that need doing in policing right now, that, frankly, pick one and run with it, if you want to talk about how to influence Law Enforcement, they respond when you make their jobs easier. You talked with commissioner bats when this was going down. We were working with batts when we first got into baltimore. There is a culture of Law Enforcement that does not communicate what their reasonings is to communities. Why are you hassling me . Because thats my job. As opposed to, you know, there has been three robberies in this general air why. Im not stopping to pat you down but to have a conversation, so i can get to know the folks. Thats much happier if you are able to explain. One of the roles that i have seen, folks, who have earned their position in the spotlight do is act as translator. I have watched both of you do that in your hometowns. Mr. Jenkins, i have watched you do that in philadelphia. Mr. Bold den, i have watched you do that in cities that are not as good as philadelphia. The strength comes in my perspective, having watched this and done this in Police Departments, the strength comes when the communication and translation is in both directions. I will say as often as you see vulnerable communities with Law Enforcement having a heavy presence, you can i like to say to my classes, integration is the first requirement for segregation. You have to show up to be able to ignore and not listen. Bridging that gap, as small and short as it might be, thats a powerful thing for people that are used to figuring out how to get teams of disparate folks to Work Together. I dont like to be touchyfeely, because im a data nerd. Thats a powerful role. You can have it in local communities. I do want to see increasingly, they cant outcast everybody. If folks are willing to speak up and partner with the folks who are doing the data work. You dont want to see me on the football field. You really dont. I can be useful in that way and they can be useful to us. Forging partnerships, that would be the way i would suggest. Miss jacksonlee. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. The only sense of remorse that i have is to hear that you gentlemen were here in november of 2016. There is a deep and abiding passion to answer your concerns. Dr. Alba golf, let see say that science data is the heartbeat of Police Reform and stopping what happened to my good brothers cousin or tamir, trayvon, in spite of the fact that it was maybe not a police but it was somebody operating under the quol or color of law which i continue to insist he had violated trayvons civil rights and all the others. I would like to ask, and thank you for this testimony, i think one of the most important things we need to get done. I want to thank mr. Cummings, we all collaborate together and Work Together on banning the box and i think you cited my bill, fair chance, which deals with juveniles, the horrible noose around their neck if they have had a juvenile offense and they cant move forward. I am going to ask you all this question about Police Community relations. I have grappled with each tragedy that has occurred and we just cant seem to get to a point besides maybe local activity, the actions of elijah when he had these tragedies. And some other members in other Community Individuals when there have been hotspots. Im from houston. I want to thank my dean. Lets not be offensive. Lets try to find common ground. One of the elements of the bill is mandatory collection of data. Want to broadly thank the nfl. I need all of you to rise up on that issue the obstacles are people who feel put upon, intimidated. You are going to collect data on me. Law enforcement. There are 18,000 Police Departments across america. So we can right the right kind of law that will help change your heart. Dr. King said, i cant do anything about hearts. I cant make you not be a segregationingist in your heart but i can have the law to tell you it is against the law. My question is two points on the Law Enforcement, trust and integrity bill. We really need to drive that bill into passage. There are republicans and democrats that i think we can bring forward. Im not going to be concerned about who is in the white house. We drive in in the United States congress and elements come forward and the bill will have to be signed. I dont know who may be there to sign it. But the idea of the elements of the bill, everyone gets akretd itted, mink the police. It is teaching concepts of deescalation on that dark night what was all those shots being fired . What was the reason . Why didnt it meet his consciousness . Im in a white van and im not in uniform. And its dark. Deescalation. Then, this concept of guardian versus warrior. Police are guardians of the community. Thats why 911 is there. Call, help. I want them to go home to their families. The idea behind that bill is to be respectful for the question of Law Enforcement and then as well be able to deal with what we are. We are not isis, even gangs with kids in it, it is horrible but they are not. What can we do to make this really about Community Police relations. One small question under under this, many of you know that one of the most important elements was Consent Decrees that we have used in baltimore and i have heard baltimore yans say, thank you, we are working with it. Ferguson, Consent Decrees. We have an attorney general that has suggested that Consent Decrees decrees will go in and help the police do better, not break them up, do better. Everybody needs a teacher to help them do better. Im not going to do that. Thats not something i want to do. Do you understand . We need to be able to say we are all in this together. Dr. Governor, yoff, just about thoughts and mr. You would answ, thank you. I want to be part of helping the ju dish area commdiciary commit conyers. Were going to do something. I just need to hear from you. Dr. Goff, do you want to go first quickly. And i yield. I want to be mindful of everybodys time. So the idea of mandatory accreditation and deescalation, theres good scientific merit for that. Obviously you cant manage a problem you cant measure. So weve always been in favor of Data Collection, whether it be done in public or whether it be done by private researchers first as sort of an entry point, it doesnt matter to us. Were in favor of more data. One thing id like to bring everyones attention to, every Police Department has to have certification from an academy and that academy is certified by a state agency. Usually a state post, Police Officer standards in training. But theres only 38 of those in the country. That means theres 12 states without a centralized state post. I dont know what the heck thats about. Im one of the worlds experts on this. I cant tell you very much about it sets up that way, but i can tell you that most state posts have not beenoliticizedpolitici theres good reasons for that. But they havent been brought into this conversation. Thats where the rubber meets the road. Thats where the standards are set up to do, is to address the state post. So i would encourage more conversation about how to include those in this broader criminal Justice Reform. The federal government doesnt have control over those but the governors and the attorney generals, if they want to participate and do right, the federal government might decide it wants to play a role in getting those. Thats how you go about getting accreditation. Mr. Boldin . I think its very important for us to humanize both sides, especially in our conversations when we communicate with communities and Law Enforcement, its important, we all would agree that we need our Law Enforcement. They have important jobs and the tough jobs. Accountability is not here as an indictment but more here as a tool for you to do your job easier, make your job easier and do it better. Also to humanize these communities that, although they might be filled with crime, they might be dealing with all sorts of issues, that there are real people with real families and real consequences that live there. They just as much as you dont want communities of crime. They want to be safe in their own homes. These type of conversations need to be collaborative in their spirit in making sure that both voices have a place at the table. Thats what ive seen to be most effective. Those dont always have to be conversations that agree, but i think everybody wants to better that relationship, the communication, but thats going to come with respectful dialogue. Thank you. Mr. Boldin. Thank you very much, mr. Jenkins. I would have to agree with both of these gentlemen. I think any time you can have a Police Department thats accredited, i think it gives that community a sense of security. I know in the nfl we do a great job of screening guys because we only want the best in the league. If youre not the best, youre not afforded the opportunity to wear the shield on you, and i think it should be the same way in the Police Department. I think we can all agree that everybody thats a police doesnt deserve to be, and thats unfortunate, because these are the people that are to protect and serve in our communities. Thats another thing. There are a lot of Police Officers that arent involved in the communities that theyre serving or supposed to be serving in. So i have this crazy theory that if i know you, im a lot more likely to treat you a lot better than if i dont. So if i have a relationship with you, with that relationship im not going to be so quick to lock you up. Mr. Boldin, you know, in baltimore we have a situation where i forget the percentage but pretty High Percentage of the Police Officers dont live in the city. Many of them have never been spending time in the black neighborhood before they become Police Officers. So therefore what they know is what they see on the 6 00 news. When i recently met with this is sort of an aside but its the same situation. I met with President Trump, one of the things i said to him is when you talk about the black community, dont talk about act like its were in some fox holes, all of us are doing real bad. I said i appreciate it if you wouldnt do that because its hurtf hurtful. But if all you know is the 6 00 news, thats a problem. Our mayor now has mandated and the police chief has mandated you probably know this, dr. Goff, that they take some cultural training so they can meet people like my father who worked 45 years at the same job, never missed an hour, made prayer meetings every wednesday, you know . You never met nobody like that. Never been arrested in his life. So that sensitivity, i think youre right, its important that they be at least for me, and then the sad part about it, a lot of times folks dont know what they dont know, which is dangerous. Mr. Clayton. Thank you so much for conducting this hearing, to my colleagues and to the witnesses for being here. Mr. Boldin, a couple years back i went through a similar situation as your family. It wasnt my family but it was the area that i represent in ferguson, missouri when Michael Brown lost his life and it tore that community apart. So my heart goes out to you and your family. Out of the ferguson unrest was a 120point Consent Decree agreed to by the city of ferguson and the u. S. Department of justice. So we as a black caucus have to remain vigilant on who leads the department, but i have a lot of confidence in the career people at the u. S. Department of justice who are in the civil rights division, who are in the other divisions, and are there to enforce the law. Let me also for the record and because we push for the Consent Decree in ferguson, i was characterized and others were characterized as being antipolice. And nothing could be further from the truth. As you stated earlier, i have relatives who are Police Officers also. Every Community Wants good policing. We want to be protected and we want to be served by a good police force. So let me just put on the record so that no one mischaracterizes or the press or anyone else doesnt leave here saying this was a chance to beat up on police, let me start with mr. Jenkins, are you antipolice . No, i am not antipolice. Thank you. Mr. Boldin, are you antipolice . For me to be antipolice would mean that i dont like people in my family, so no, im not. Thats correct. Thank you. And dr. Goff, you finish it off and tell us if youre antipolice. I am not antipolice. I appreciate that so much. I think that will dispel some of the rumors that we will that some will attempt to make about this hearing. I want to thank all three of you for your testimony today and i yield back. Thank you very much. Were going to close. Let me just say this. Mr. Clay brings up a very important point. So often when one tries to make the arguments that black lives do matter, that people should not just be shot down in our streets, that we should not have cases like freddie gray who lived and died in my neighborho neighborhood, and when you try to even talk about those subjects, a lot of times people will make that argument that, oh, youre antipolice. They dont seem to understand, dr. Goff, that when a Police Officer dies or is harmed, i mourn. No matter what color he or she is, even if theyre not from baltimore, i mourn. But i also mourn for freddie gray. Some folks seem not to understand that you can have both. Sometimes those kind of things and im glad you mentioned that get in the way of us truly talking to each other and trying to resolve these issues. Mr. Jenkins and mr. Boldin, can you tell us what other im not looking for names, but are there many other folks in the league trying to do similar things to what you all are doing . Yeah, there are a lot of guys that have concerns about whats going on in their communities and across the nation that are looking for ways to get involved. Theyre not sure what to do, but they do want to put in some work. Thats kind of what me and anquan are doing is really trying to blaze that trail for them to follow along. Weve recently started a Community Engagement committee through our Players Union to really consolidate the efforts of guys that are doing awesome things in their own communities but want to unify or really put a big voice to issues that they care about, criminal Justice Reform being one of them. Mr. Boldin . Yes, i would piggyback on that. There are a lot of guys who are concerned about the things that are going on in their communities. I guess for us were just trying to create a safe haven for guys to be active in their communities. Just being honest, guys are concerned about their livelihood, so were trying to make it to where guys dont have to be afraid to speak out and would be more than willing to step up to the plate. You just said something that again we dont want to do anything to interfere with your livelihood either. Were very, very proud of you all, and our pride is not limited to the field. Our pride goes out to the fact that you stepped into a situation you didnt have to do. You dont have to do this. But obviously you havent forgotten from where you came and obviously you came about folks other than yourself. The contributions that you make just by showing up, expressing concern, giving of your time, your resources, your efforts, are significant and will affect generations yet unborn, kids you dont even know. Theyll see this on cspan. You dont even know them. Youll never meet them. But you will affect their lives. So we encourage you were going to do our part, but we encourage you to continue to do what youre doing. The other thing, i want to go back to something that i said from the beginning. When youve been around here for a few years like i have, you start asking the questions again, how do i make sure that most effective and efficient in everything i do. The reason why i asked you whether other folks were doing this, players were doing this, is because im hoping that you all can look at best practices, for example, if youre doing something, mr. Boldin, that you see working, i want to make sure that theres an avenue to let whoever else on some other team know, hey, this is working. Because believe me, if it works in baltimore, its going to work in atlanta. Its going to work. So again, going back to effectiveness and efficiency. But one of the things that you also do, you all help to break some of the ice. The reason why i asked the question about whether you all have impact, could have impact talking to the police, because i think youre right, dr. Goff, because i found in my relationship with the police just talking to them, you know, and particularly when i tell them i live in the neighborhood. So again, i want to thank you all. If theres anything that we can do to be supportive yield to the gentle lady . Of course i will. Let me put on the record that none of the members here are antipolice. Thank you very much. Let me also put on the record that most of the members live in the neighborhood and raise sons and i want to emphasize what doc cummings said, you are role models. What i also want to say and i think there are colleagues sitting behind you and i may have come late and didnt get introduced but let me thank them as well. Nfl, are you looking and listening . The nfls statute has just shot through the roof, not because of your prowess on the field but because you are here in the United States congress and youre associated with the nfl. I hope they are listening and looking. Youre obviously independent, but i hope they are seeing the value of what you are now saying, and that they should be squarely 100 , 200 with the owners behind the importance of your message. Who youre speaking to are the generations of nflers s to come. If we can save lives through your words, we can change attitudes about policing, if we can move legislation in the United States congress of the United States of america, just look at the power of the nfl. So i know youre here on your own distinguished career and record and your own passion in your heart, but dont diminish what you are doing for the nfl because youre really doing it. Just a little bit of an advertisement, we also have something called the Congressional Black Caucus foundation. We want to make sure that we give some opportunities to young men in the nfl to come here and work with us. I know there are projects going on, but we want to give the opportunity for fellowships and internships during your off season to be right here where the policy makers are, because we can see the brilliance thats being exhibited here, and we need your brilliance. I thank you for allowing me to yield. Thank you so very much for your presence here today. When you talk about a safe haven, mr. Boldin im so glad you mentioned that and then im ending on this note. Dr. Goff said something to this effect, that the police kind of like situations that are going to make their jobs easier. When youre talking to fellow players and youre talking about safe havens, you need to make that point. In other words, that what you all are doing actually makes the police job much easier, and people need to understand that. So again, thank you, and ill tell ya, if they were doing one of those commercials where they feature great things that nfl players are doing, your testimony should have been a part should be a part im serious a part of that. It is so very, very, very important. Thanks a lot. Gavel, mr. Chairman. Cspan, where history unfolds daily. In 1979, cspan was created as a Public Service by americas Cable Television companies and is brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider. Now a discussion on the ongoing conflict and the state of the economy in yemen