In Letter to Trump, the CBC Chairman Criticizes His Administration’s Actions on Policing and Criminal Justice Reform and His Questioning of African-American Patriotism

WASHINGTON – Today, the Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), Congressman Cedric L. Richmond (D-LA-02) sent a letter to President Trump criticizing his Administration’s actions on policing and criminal justice reform and his questioning of African-American patriotism. In addition to the two-page letter, Chairman Richmond sent another copy of the CBC’s 130-page “We Have A Lot To Lose”  policy document to President Trump and “implored” him to read it in order to educate himself on the many problems facing communities of color and how he can work with the CBC to address them.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions was copied on the letter. Full text of the letter is attached and online. Additional excerpts from the letter are below:

Policing and Criminal Justice Reform

“…Attorney General Sessions has initiated a second failed war on drugs that will wreck the Black community, an over-policed population, and only exacerbate our nation’s shameful mass incarceration problem. The painful irony that Black drug users are treated as criminals while White opioid addicts receive a multi-million-dollar federal public health response is not lost on me or the millions of African Americans that CBC Members represent. You personally add insult to injury with the racist dog whistles you employ, such as calling for “law and order” in underserved, neglected communities across America while encourage police brutality.”

Patriotism

“I write today to express my utter disgust with your handling of race relations in America in general and, more specifically, your disgraceful response to nationwide demonstrations against police brutality and racial injustice by professional football players, owners, coaches, and countless other patriots. African Americans are just as patriotic as any other American. We have fought in every war from the American Revolution to Iraq and Afghanistan, only to come home to a country that has yet to reconcile deep-seeded issues of race, inequality, and injustice.”

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