Overnight into june the 1st. And as one television a week ago describing the events of how a group of white rioters had marched into greenwood, it was called black wall street and had killed up to 300 people there and had set greenwood on fire, destroying homes and businesses. As im talking and many people at home dont know this, but everyone in this chamber does, as im talking im just talking to a camera lens. I cant tell whats on tv at the time, but as im talking, there are pictures of a town in the United States currently on fire while im describing a race massacre 99 years ago that weekend. Weve come a long way in the issue of race in america. But we clearly have a very long way to go. We have four centuries of racial inequality stacked on top of each other. While we break through those things step by step, we have things that we can do. Ive been on the phone for days with friends and people that i know from all over oklahoma, all over backgrounds, talking about Race Relationships and where we go as a nation. Some people throw up their hands and say i dont know what to do many people have an idea, but Everyone Wants the situation to get better. Whats interesting is the dialog about protesters and rioters and Police Officers and i share openly with them, i dont judge protesters and rioters the same. Some people do. They throw them all in one big group. I do not. There are people out standing in the streets just wanting to be heard, just wanting finally things in america to change, for america to fulfill her promise of equal justice under the law in every area and every community. Theyre peaceful. Theyre sometimes loud and brash, but theyre frustrated and they want to be heard. Theres another group that breaks through the middle of times of those protesters, smashing windows and stealing shoes and electronics from stores, spray painting and destroying public property just from their own anger. I dont treat protesters and rioters the same and i encourage people not to treat all Police Officers the same. Are there some rioters mixed in the protesters . Yes. Are there some Police Officers that need to be confronted for their racial views . Yes. Is that all of them . By far, no. Every person should be judged by their own character, every person. And when we as americans lump any group together and say, they are like that, we have divided us even more. 20 years ago, my state made it illegal for police to stop someone simply because of their race. Couldnt pull someone over simply because of their race. Most Police Departments in oklahoma dont allow choke holds. In fact, i spoke with officers in the Oklahoma CityPolice Department who were there a long time, said they were never trained to do that, told not to do that and whats happening in other places is not happening in my state the same way, but i still have friends of mine that are africanamerican that still catch me and tell me the number of times theyve been pulled over for driving while black. In places and neighborhoods ive never been pulled over in. But they have. Multiple times. We still have a long way to go. This legislative body can talk about it, we can share empathy. We can listen, but were also called to act. So i bring to this body just a few ideas. Some things we can do to be able to engage. Things like greater transparency. How can we oppose just getting information out . Simple things that were not currently doing like gathering a federal data base of the use of lethal force by Law Enforcement, that whatever Police Department, whatever place uses lethal force, all of that data should be collected and sent into a federal data base so there can be a National Tracking what force is used. What race is a police officer, what race is a person where lethal force is used . What was the situation . How was the investigation handled . Whats with a the result of that investigation . Basic details. City councils, city leaders, city managers, should not be afraid to look at the data and to ask hard questions. We should not be afraid to look at the data and to be able to ask hard questions. Most every community has oversight boards that are citizen boards. Good. Are they empowered to actually engage . Are they involved in the hiring process . Are they involved in the oversight . Do they get a chance to be able to look over the shoulders to be able to evaluate what happens . Do they know when there are reports on the same Law Enforcement officers over and over again . Are those advisory panels empowered . Are there body cameras . Not just are there body cameras . Are they on . Which has been our second challenge. Getting body cameras is just transparency. Its just the availability of information so that Law Enforcement can see and so that citizens can see what was happening. Law enforcement are in very, very difficult situations every single day and when they leave their house each morning, their family gives them a hug and hopes they come back that night because every day they face challenges. I have great compassion for those folks, but body cameras help everybody, provide clarity in what was going on, but theyre not effective if theyre not on. And weve had several situations lately, where it seems conveniently, body cameras were not on. Thats a problem and thats an area that we should address. Mental Health Training is coming up over and over again, not just recently. Its come up for a long time. This body in the senate and house and the president signed additional legislation dealing with Mental Health issues, increasing the demand for Mental Health. States and local areas have got to engain in this as well. Law enforcement is responsible for transporting an individual across the state for treatment for Mental Health or for Substance Abuse. My state really does need to determine a better, more compassionate way to transport someone with Mental Illness or Substance Abuse than the back of a police car. Every time that occur, Law Enforcement is taken off the street for an entire day when theyre transporting someone when someone else could have done that in a more compassionate, less obvious way than in the back of a police car. Weve got to find a better way to do that. Every time one of our Law Enforcement folks transitions across the state. They lose their time that they could have used for training, for getting out of their car to meet neighbors, to hear the story, to earn trust, to heal relationshi relationships. Every city, every city across america of any size has boards and commissions, but those boards and commissions often have the same people that just shuffle around from the same board and commission. They get off one board and then move to another board and i find just by asking around, many of those boards and commissions do not match the diversity of their community. Theyre a group of wealthy leaders or activists that are there, but it doesnt match the diversity and the leadership of those boards and commissions certainly dont rotate enough to be able to allow the leaders of the boards and commissions that the city uses to have diversity. We put out every year, Community Development block grants, every year from this house and senate. Why dont we just add in to the community of available block grants that cities and communities can get access to the block grants, to help improve the situations if theyre also improving access to individuals within the community having the opportunity to also lead in that community. If your boards and commissions dont reflect the diversity of your community, theres a problem with that city and that the way that theyre actually declining the Leadership Structure of how decisions are made with federal dollars. Thats not a hard way to be able to raise up new leaders that get their voice heard at city hall and get their voice heard on how funds are actually done. Big city Police Departments often time dont share the same racial diversity as the city itself. Why doesnt we allow some of the grant money that we have that we already dedicate to Law Enforcement to be different to recruiters so that they could recruit from the same diversity of their community and actually help pay the salary of people stepping in in the earliest days in the Police Academy and as theyre starting into the force . That way the diversity in our big City Police Department matches the diversity of the community itself and we allow those funds to be used by recruiters. See, i believe there are things we can do that make a practical difference, but i also firmly believe that racism is not a legislative issue, its a heart issue and a family issue. One of the biggest things we can do with these issues with the bully pulpit that we have pushing back on individuals and doing quite frankly whatever you can to do this. What i started five years ago was asking people, has your family ever invited a family of another race into your home for dinner . Just a simple question. Ive been mazed at the number of people ive talked to in my state of all races when i asked them has your family ever invited a family of another race into your home for dinner, they respond back to me, i have friends of another race, to which i always smile at them and say thats not what i asked. Not do you have friends of another race. Has your family ever invited the family of another race to your home for a meal . Just for your kids to sit together and to talk, just for two families just to be able to sit and visit Like Neighbors would do. And im astounded at the number of people that one of the thresholds of race is the threshold of their own home. Why would that barrier be there . And how do we break that barrier . A friend of mine raised an interesting question to me this past weekend, he slipped into the museum of africanamerican history as a Law Enforcement officer and found out for metro police, the d. C. Metro area, they go over to the museum of africanamerican history and they get a tour guided through that facility to help new Police Officers get an understanding of africanamerican history from a Law Enforcement perspective and to be able to see whats happened in Law Enforcement relationships between Law Enforcement and africanamericans over the centuries. He joined into that tour and his statement to me was, i wish every Police Department could get that kind of training, could get to that museum and could get that kind of context. My statement back to him was, we do that from the Holocaust Museum. The Holocaust Museum does tours and is currently designing a curriculum that we can then train trainers with that curriculum and work on antisemitism across the entire country. This body helped get that done. Why dont we do that with the museum of africanamerican history in Law Enforcement. Challenge them to take the program they already have, turn it into a curriculum. Train the trainers and then to be able to get that out across the entire country and multiply that out. Why couldnt they do that . Why couldnt police week every year when police week occurs, have a large contingency of Law Enforcement go through the museum of africanamerican history and to be able to get that training there and then to be able to take that training back home . Why couldnt that happen . It could. If this body is willing to step up and to do some pragmatic things to be able to engage on actually finding practical ways it continue the work that our nation is doing. See, were not at the beginning on race, were four centuries into this conversation. But what i remind everyone is, were actually trying. There are many places in the world that theyre not working on Race Relations at all in their country, if youre not the dominant race, you are still excluded from the courts, from education, from access. We as a country are trying, but for those that think were done, youre wrong. Were not done with the journ journey. I love pointing out to people, watch the beginning of the olympics when all the countries march in. Almost every delegation under every flag, everyone marching under that flag looks alike until the United States marches in. And you see this great diversity of our athletes, and it reminds us again, were trying. The past 10 days should also remind us, were not done. So lets continue doing the hard work that needs to be done with our own families. Lets continue to do the legislative work that needs to be done to make progress. But lets keep going till its done. My friend said to me last weekend, our founding documents are great founding documents. Weve just never actually fully lived them out for everybody, but i cant wait for us to continue the work in this body towards becoming a more perfect union. With that i yield the floor. About to gavel in for another day of work on the Great American outdoors act. Legislation to create a regular Funding Source for maintenance of National Parks and federal lands by using taxes on profits from oil, gas, and Mineral Development on federal land. Senators are waiting for a vote on bringing the bill to the floor. Meanwhile, theyll vote this afternoon on confirmation of general Charles Brown for air force chief of staff. Hed be the first africanamerican head of the air force. Will open the senate in prayer. The chaplain let us pray. Almighty god, we need you more than human help. Restore us to your favor, surrounding us with the shield of your mercy. We have been shaken by the forces that have come against us and look to you, our rede