charges, federal. what is required by law in terms of civil rights charges that you felt met the standard here and should have proceeded at least to a federal grand jury and federal trial? absolutely, reverend al. number one, you have to show that what she did was objectively unreasonable. and we believe that shooting a man with his hands in the air who was unarmed, at a safe distance, not posing an imminent threat, who is not looked for committed a crime. we think shooting a man in that situation is completely unreasonable. that s number one. and number two, to have to prove that it was willful. she willfully violated his civil rights. i believe that she because she testified she shot him on purpose, that, in fact, she testified that terrence made her shoot him. he basically was responsible for his death. so i believe she has the willful intent in her mind to shoot him.
anniversary of its iconic, bloody sunday today. and later in the show, i talk to congressman john lewis about the difference between then and now. because even with selma, there was a hopeful trajectory out of it. one that ultimately led to government action in defense of black voting rights. but tonight i can say the government has failed spectacularly in two cases. whether human rights of unarmed black people went thoroughly undefended, terence crutcher, shot and killed in 2016 during a traffic incident in tulsa, oklahoma. the justice department announced friday that no civil rights charges will be filed against the police officer that killed him on camera. and stephon clark, shot numerous times in march of last year in his grandmother s backyard in
air. and what s happening is that, you know, they assassinate the character of the dead like attorney crump stated, but they never look at the killer cops that they re unleashing on to our communities. betty shelby had a violent past. betty shelby actually had warrants against her or restraining orders. and child abuse charges. and all these things. but yet the tpd hired her anyway, and she should have never had a weapon. and i just feel that if the city of tulsa would have done their due diligence, my brother would be alive today and the city of sul at th tulsa and mayor binam continues to fight us. we re just frustrated and we re upset all over again. and these laws, they have to change, because these laws allow police officers to commit legal murder. officer i m sorry, attorney simmons, civil rights
as i mentioned earlier, i ve livid tonight that on this weekend that we commemorate the suffering in selma 54 years ago, the value of black lives is still debatable in the eyes of the law. on friday, the justice department announced that it will not prosecute former tulsa, oklahoma, police officer, betty shelby, for civil rights violations in the 2016 shooting death of terence crutcher. and on saturday, sacramento, california, district attorney ann marie shubert announced that her office would not be pursuing criminal charges against two officers involved in the shooting death of stephon clark in march of last year. in both cases, the officers
and that s why we are so disappointed, and we disagree with the decision of the department of justice. we are very disappointed, but unfortunately, reverend al, we are not surprised. because we know terrence goes on a list of tamir rice and so many other philando castillo, eric garner, which you have done so much great work on. all of these individuals, unarmed black men, have been killed and yet our federal government does not come in and hold anyone accountable. and if our federal government cannot hold unarmed individuals who are shot with their hands up on video, if they can t vindicate those civil rights, what civil rights can they vindicate? attorney crump, this issue keeps coming up. we have fought it for years. we saw in chicago a conviction. every once in a while, we ll see an indictment. but the laws need to be changed. should that be a central issue in the 2020 presidential elections and the elections about the laws on policing? absolutely. and we should pose that ques