Congressional Black Caucus Democrats tied the violence in Dallas and Minnesota to lack of congressional action on gun control and police shootings, as they reiterated a call for gun control and an “adult conversation” on the use of deadly force by law enforcement.
“If this Congress does not have the guts to lead, then we are responsible for all of the bloodshed on the streets of America, whether it be at the hands of people wearing a uniform or whether it’s at the hands of criminals,” Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-La., told reporters Friday morning.
Congressional Democrats have been demanding gun control votes in the weeks since the Orlando terrorist attack, while the CBC in particular has been calling for reforms to the use of deadly force by police officers. Those story lines converged Thursday when a peaceful protest against two police shootings of black men that were caught on tape became the scene of an ambush in Dallas that left five police officers dead and seven wounded.
The lawmakers struck a balance between praising police officers generally, as well as the Black Lives Matter activists who have led protests against police shootings, while condemning the violence in Dallas. “I want us to be intelligent enough to separate the issues that we are talking about today,” said CBC Chairman Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C. “If someone goes in a building and assassinates five police officers, they are a terrorist by any definition they are a terrorist and they are not part of the Black Lives Matter movement.”
Texas Democrat Marc Veasey, who spoke with a parent of one of the slain police officers this morning, emphasized the need for police. “Without the police, we would have anarchy for the streets, we would have no order, and the country that we live in wouldn’t be the country that we know today where we have freedom of press, where we have freedom of speech, where we have the right to gather and protest,” he said.
But police shootings in Louisiana and Minnesota also sparked national outrage this week, particularly images of Philando Castile bleeding out after being shot while reportedly reaching for his license and registration during a traffic stop.
“I want the police officers to be protected, but I do want to know that when my son gets a little bit older … that he will be given the same benefit of the doubt that any other kid would be for maybe having a smart mouth, or maybe not doing what the police officers says that he didn’t think he should have been doing, or whatever the circumstances may be,” Veasey said.
Richmond implied that the Dallas shooting might have been avoided if Congress had voted on gun control legislation and taken steps to mitigate police shootings. “When we look at this Congress, we can do nothing but conclude that they are co-conspirators in the devaluation of the lives of men and women of color,” the Louisiana Democrat said. “And let me just say: yesterday a few of us joined together … requesting the chairman of the judiciary to convene a hearing on the use of deadly force because we thought this country was at a tipping point where our people are so frustrated, so angry, and had not seen any action while their friends and family are mowed down in the streets — that that frustration was at a tipping point.”
