President Obama: Mistrust of Law Enforcement Greatest in Communities that Need it Most
By: Whitney Robinson, Associate Editor Vol. 20
President Obama shared a powerful and important message during his address to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation this past Saturday. According to Obama, the fatal shooting of Michael Brown in August, and the ensuing unrest in Ferguson, exposes a wide “gulf of mistrust” that exists between community members and law enforcement officers. These suspicions have developed from persistent racial disparities in our justice system, the result being that those “who are victimized and need strong policing most [are] reluctant to go to the police because they may not trust them.”
Although there are no easy solutions to bridge this “gulf of mistrust,” a new NAACP report indicates that passing legislation to ban racial profiling and stop-and-frisk in practices in law enforcement are important steps towards eliminating race-based discrimination in our justice system.
