Rep. Lacy Clay, who represents Ferguson, Mo., said the city government and its police force must be replaced.
“They need to clean house from top to bottom,” Clay, a Democrat, said on ABC’s “This Week.”
Clay appeared on the show after a tumultuous week in Ferguson. Two police offers were shot during a night of protests and the shooter remains at large. Meanwhile, black residents are seeking changes in response to a Justice Department report showing blacks have been disproportionately charged with traffic violations and other crimes.
“You can tell it was systemwide,” Clay told ABC. “The way they targeted people of their community as really an ATM machine to derive revenue to fund the city government.”
Clay said residents are seeking signatures on a petition to recall the Ferguson mayor.
“If they get enough signatures,” Clay said, “I will go about educating the voters of Ferguson of what their rights are and how they can change their city government for the better.”
Clay said the Ferguson police force “probably should be dismantled,” and perhaps replaced with the St. Louis County Police, which Clay said is better equipped to deal with the situation in Ferguson, “and to stop judging people by the color of their skin and criminalizing them because of what color they are.”
Ferguson has been the site of civil unrest since a white police officer fatally shot an unarmed teen in August.
