President Obama: "The African-American community is not just making this up."

The President of the United States, Barack Obama, just told us that there are legitimate reasons for us to be more than a little upset with the status quo.

Speaking at forum for criminal justice at the White House, the President had this to say:

"But having said all that, we as a society particularly given our history, have to take this seriously," Mr. Obama said. "And one of the ways of avoiding the politics of this and losing the moment is everybody just stepping back for a second and understanding that the African-American community is not just making this up."

He continued:

"I think everybody understands all lives matter," Mr. Obama said. "I think the reason that the organizers used the phrase 'Black Lives Matter' was not because they were suggesting nobody else's lives matter. Rather, what they were suggesting was there is a specific problem that's happening in the African-American community that's not happening in other communities.
"And that is a legitimate issue that we've got to address."

Yes, Tamir Rice was really killed in 2 seconds of the cops arriving on the scene. Eric Garner was really choked to death for selling loose cigars. Yes, 18 yr old Mike Brown was really shot multiple times and his body left unattended in the streets for 4 hours. Yes, Michael Slaeger really did shoot the fleeing Walter Scott in the back. Sandra Bland is really dead. And so is Trayvon Martin even as his murderer continues to remind us why he deserves to be behind bars.

No, Sean Hannity, #BlackLivesMatter did not create those tragedies; they are merely protesting them.

Now that the leader of the free world has acknowledged that something is grievously, tragically wrong with the way justice is being dispensed in the country he leads, what do we do? Even as we protest, and prepare to vote, we can act in one one other way: Let's write our own laws! And not only write them, let's work to get them enacted.


Summary of the Law Enforcement Documentation Act of 2016:

The Law Enforcement Documentation Act addresses the following: Reporting to the general public when force is used by police. Providing data for a national database that tracks use of force by police. No longer allowing law enforcement officers (and the police force that they work for) to avoid answering for their mistakes. The current lack of reporting on policing statistics (especially regarding race and force, both lethal and non-lethal). Excessive use of force in policing. Identification of problem individuals or police forces before they result in repeated injuries or deaths of US citizens. Elimination of weapons for police being investigated for problematic and/or repeated incidents. Prosecuting of police officers that abuse their mission of serving and protecting the community they police.

Summary of our Michael Brown Over-Policed Rights Act:

The Michael Brown Over-Policed Rights Act Addresses: Racial prejudice in policing. Identification of problem areas like Ferguson, Missouri before they blow up. Violence in policing. Mass incarceration. Unfairness in policing (such as extraordinary numbers of alleged offenses per population). Allowing law enforcement officers to avoid answering for their mistakes. The current lack of reporting on policing statistics (especially regarding race and force, both lethal and non-lethal). Provision of body cameras to police officers. Elimination of weaponized police equipment in problem jurisdictions.

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What are we asking of you? That you do the following:

a) Print out the Michael Brown Over-Policed Rights Act and send it your representatives.

b) Email the law to your representatives and to civil rights organizations.

c) Tweet the law to your representatives and to the Democratic presidential candidates.

d) Call your representatives and ask what are they doing about police brutality in general and implementing our law in particular.

e) Contact your United States senator and contact your representative in the United States Congress. Call their office. Talk to a staff member. Call every week. Set up meetings. Organize a group to go to a meeting with your congressperson.