Patience. Im not usually running this late. But i understand that you have had some excellent presentations before me. I see a number of old friends, and hopefully new friends on this panel. Great voices all, in our common struggle. And so i think you have had excellent presentations and im just sorry that i had to miss so many of them. I am so looking forward to hearing the recap of this because there are so many important issues here. Dr. Gough, such a pleasure to meet you, your leadership at ucla on the center for policing equity is something that is not only vital, in terms of what we need today, it really is the key to a lot of the issues that we face. When im looking at the agenda for the entire cbc foundation events, i see so many different panels on so many different issues, but they all come together in regards to the central issue of our communitys relationships with Law Enforcement and with our government writ large. So many of the issues that you all are tackling all this week come back to that essential issue. And so i thank you so much for giving me a few minutes to talk to you this afternoon about what the department of justice is doing in this important area because i will tell you that i view it as one of my main priorities as attorney general of the United States. I know that congressman conyers had to go and vote. He is also pulled in many different directions, but i want to thank him and his staff for their invitation to this event as well as for setting up this particular panel and of course the congressmans lifetime of service to these issues. He has been in this fight for a long time. A long time. [applause] as have many of you. Not just here on the panel and on the podium next to me but out here in the audience. I see a lot of fighters. I see a lot of people who have walked a lot of lines, and walked across a lot of bridges, and so i thank you for that as well. [applause] whether you have been in the struggle for years, or whether you are new to it and part of the new and exciting and dynamic young voices that we need to tell us the truth, i commend you and i am so so glad to hear from you. Your commitment is important, your ideas are important, your energy and your passion. And now is the time that we have to all come together around these important issues. Because while we have made just extraordinary progress since the cbc was founded over 40 years ago, it is clear that we have so much more work to do. In the recent weeks and months weve seen these reminders, you know theres not just the overall philosophy that we always say theres more work to do, we have to keep marching. Weve seen it. Weve seen it played out in a very, very stark and very painful reality captured for the world to see. We have experienced tragedies that make it clear that this fight for our common welfare goes on. And i will tell you that what hurts me so much in my current role, is that we have seen the mistrust between our Law Enforcement officers and our communities also deepen at a time when, not that it hasnt always been the case, but at a time when our communities need, perhaps more than at any other time, the protection and the resources that Law Enforcement is committed and sworn to bring to bear. It has always been my view that the essential role, not just of government, but of Law Enforcement in particular is the protection of people who dont have anyone else to call on. You know those times in the middle of the night when people are cold and afraid and they know that someone is out there who means them harm, we have to have someone on whom to call. And we have to be able to trust and rely upon those individuals to come when we call and to also look out for us when they do arrive. Now this is an issue that i know youre talking about today, not just on this panel but so many others, but on this panel in particular youve got the voices to do it. Youve got the experience and youve got the people who also provide you the perspective of what it feels like to be left out of that dynamic of protection, to be left out of that umbrella and that circle of guardianship that every american is entitled to. And that is such an important voice today. Now its also not a new issue, although its an issue thats very deep and very personal for me. As some of you may know, im fortunate enough to have my father here with me this week. [applause] but this issue is generations old and when i was a young girl i remember, the things i remember my father telling me about, you know you all talk about your grandparents and your aunts and your uncle, and the family lore thats what makes you who you are. Thats how you know what the lynches are like and you know what the harrises are like, and theyre both stubborn just so you know. [laughter] but i remember my father telling me about his father, about my grandfather. A minister, third grade education, no money, eight children, dirt poor, living in Rural North Carolina in the 1930s when my father was born. And even with all those things stacked against him, built his own church beside his house, called in lynchs chapel. Thats what you can do when you build a church yourself. [laughter] and one of the things that my father remembers is that there were times when he was a young boy in the 1930s, when people in the community, black people in the community were in trouble. As my grandfather used to say, caught up in the clutches of the law, and didnt have anywhere to go. And they would come to my grandfather and he would actually help hide them until they could leave the community. And sometimes the sheriff would come by the house and ask my grandfather, you know, gus, have you seen soandso . My grandfather would say well, not lately. [laughter] soandso is hiding in the closet or hiding under the floorboards because in those days, 1930s north carolina, there was no justice in the dark of night on a rural road. No miranda warnings, no procedural protections, none of the things that we take for granted today. And so despite what had happened with these individuals, my grandfather knew that sometimes in order to preserve the fight for justice into the future, you had to take action in the moment. You had to take action in the moment. [applause] now of course, things are much better now, and we all get reminded of that whenever we bring up these issues, you notice that when you talk about these issues, whether they are of race in general or Police Issues in particular, when you talk about the current pain that the Minority Community is feeling and it is, we are feeling it very, very deeply, people say, well you know things are actually much better now. And they are. They are. You know, in addition for giving you my apologies for being late today, i can tell you that i was late today because i had a meeting with the president that ran over. I would never have been able to say that even five years ago. The fact that my grandfather who fought so hard for justice in his own way would never have conceived. That his granddaughter, the little girl he used to take out in the fields and you know, show what tobacco looked like, you know would actually be sitting in a meeting with the president of the United States. We have come so far, but we still have so far to go and these issues of fundamental fairness and the relationship that the Minority Community has with government writ large, and with those of us in Law Enforcement in particular are still with us. They are still important today. And we all understand on a personal level the frustration that comes up when we are treated unfairly because of race. But this is really about more than just that. This is really about being treated unfairly because of race by those who are sworn to protect you. By those who wear the uniform of protection. This is really a deeper issue than just the individual discrimination many of us have seen in whether or not we didnt get the job, or get an opportunity or someone didnt speak to us. We are talking about the pain that comes up when these deeply rooted injustices get shrugged off, and they get ignored. Now we are in a different time and things are much better, even if they may not seem that way. Even if this seems like a very painful time because we are seeing these issues so much more clearly, i have to tell you that this takes me back to the early days of the civil rights movement. And you all remember those days when people were marching and protesting and talking about conditions. You couldnt vote, couldnt get a job, couldnt sit into a store and just have a break and have a cup of coffee. And no one wanted to believe that that was the case until the advent of television. Remember the televise marches televised marches and the protests, and when the world saw what was happening, that police dogs were put on little children, that fire hoses were used against young men and women, that galvanized the conscience of the world and gave the movement a momentum to make changes. To give us a civil rights act, to give us a Voting Rights act, to give us desegregation, to help us craft those strategies that our lawyers use before the Supreme Court. And now we are in a similar moment, when so many of the images that we see are so painful. But they are being used to show the world what people in the Minority Community have known for years about the Different Levels of interaction and the Different Levels of both respect and participation in the system that africanamericans have and that africanamericans feel. And as painful as it is to watch someone suffering or possibly even dying, the result has been an opening of the discussion in ways that we have not had in significant years. And so the onus is on us to seize this moment. The onus is on us to continue this discussion, to continue this debate. Because now the world knows what we always knew. That people in ferguson were being taxed for walking down the street and being the wrong color. The world knows what we always knew, that young men of colors interactions with the police are fundamentally different than other childrens. And that as parents, and as siblings, and as family members that we have a responsibility to point this out and talk about it as well as educate our children. But we also have to acknowledge more than just the actions, because theres something that goes on as well, something thats deeper when we have these situations. We have to acknowledge the anger and the despair, the feelings that develop. You know people they always talk about wanting us to handle things in a certain way, and thats true and and this country was built on peaceful protest. It is a fundamental right of ours and it can achieve a great deal of change. It has achieved a great deal of change. But we also have to acknowledge the anger and the despair that develops when these concerns that we now see on tape are still pushed aside by so many people as if they dont exist. You have to acknowledge the kind of pain that develops. You have to acknowledge that and you know that people say, well i dont think it was that bad. Well i dont think they meant it that way. Or even, that just didnt happen. You know, it just didnt even happen. And so when that happens to people, to a people, to our people time and time again, you have to have within our community a sense of disconnection and despair that is as dangerous as any bullet or any billy club. It absolutely is. [applause] but of course im not the first to note that, and honestly i would refer you back to that work of art by ralph ellison, invisible man. Invisible man. And you will see all of that there. And you will see the consequences of it as well. And of course the reason why we have to face this and deal with these issues is of course because as always, as with the movement 50 years ago and the issues now, its our children who are bearing the brunt of these issues. Its our children who are growing up without that sense of connection, without the sense of protection and security that they are entitled to have. And that we want them to have. Now one of the things i am doing is im doing a sixcity Community Policing tour. Im going to jurisdictions that have had very very troubled and very challenging relationships between the police and the community between five and 10 years ago. Either a lawsuit, a shooting incident, a consent decree, where the department of justice has had to come in and concert a certain amount of either actual persuasion or actual litigation in order to manage unconstitutional policing practices. But there are jurisdictions that have turned that corner, and im talking to people about how and why that is the case. And of course things are still not perfect, there are still people who feel on the fringes of what we are trying to achieve for them, and those are the voices that i want to hear the most, because those are the voices i have to address. And when i was in pittsburgh i was talking to a group of young people, high school students, because they will tell you what is happening in their daily lives and theyll tell you what they see, and theyll tell you, more importantly, how it makes them feel. And i was talking with a young man who told me he was afraid to walk in this particular pittsburgh neighborhood, he described it as a fairly rough neighborhood. And so he felt threatened by forces around him who had other agendas, who were trying to draw him into gang life or try to draw him into violence or possibly put him in the way of being accidentally caught in crossfire. But what he told me that was the most painful thing was that it wasnt just the other residents who frightened him who clearly were not on the past that he was path that he was on. He was excelling in school and moving ahead with a bright future, he was also afraid to call the police when he felt that way. Because he didnt know if he could tell the difference between him and the people who were trying to do him harm. And what i say is, what we have to acknowledge is is that no one should feel that way. Not in america. Not today. Not our children. And for those of us whove spent a career in Law Enforcement and the people i know on this panel and the people in this room, anyone in Law Enforcement who hears that should say i do not want that feeling in a child of mine. Because theyre all our children. They all have to be. And this has to be the starting point for our work. Do our children feel safe . And if they do not, what are we doing to change that dynamic for them . What are we doing, not only to make them safe, but to make them feel that there are people and forces that look out for them, that are supporting them, and that are coming into the community to protect them. Not only does the doj recognize this issue, we are now, not only does the department of conflict and to heal these divisions in our neighborhood that have resulted in stolen lives and broken communities. I very much view our role as working to invite the voices that are here in this room. Working to amplify the voices that are here in this room. We are working to cultivate the opportunity to let people come together. To do the real work, the hard work that results in Safer Communities anymore just society. Communities and a more just society. We have to do more. One thing that i mentioned we are working on one of my Top Priorities as attorney general is dealing with the breakdown in trust between Law Enforcement and the communities we are sworn to serve. I spend a lot of time talking to both sides. I spent time talking to people who have had these experiences with Law Enforcement, who share them with me. Its a gift when some one shares their pain with you. You have to understand that it is a gift they are giving you, the ability to understand what has happened to them. Ive also talked to a lot of force with officers who say to me, what i want to do is protect people. I became a cop because someone helped me. Or i saw people in my Community Going the wrong way, and i want to prevent that. Increasingly, i became a cop because i see the way things are going and i want to make it better. Bringing those voices together, letting them find a place in which to talk and to interact is a key part of what the doj is looking to do. At the end of the day, we are all part of tehe community. Our responsibility to it grows, and should blossom. There are things we are doing by way of initiative. Just last year, we launched the National Initiative for Building Community trust and justice. This is a country has of approach to training and policy and research, intended to advance procedural justice and to promote racial conciliation and eliminate complicit biases. Our Civil Rights Division continues to work with Police Departments across the country to ensure constitutional policing in their jurisdictions. I have been so heartened by the fact that none of the Police Departments have told us they are making the ferguson report required reading for the retirement that they are making it required reading for the entire department. Because they know that in order to prevent the problems of ferguson, you have to not only acknowledge them, but look at the root causes of them. Office of Justice Programs is partnering with lawenforcement a brief at the state and local level. Through them and training and technical assistance, through our office of media oriented policing services, ron davis, the outstanding director of that office is here. We are hoping to hire and train officers to promote officer safety and wellness and to support state and local and tribal Law Enforcement agencies as they implement recommendations of the president obamas task force on 20thcentury policing. They carried the maxims of Community Policing that we have seen been effective over the years. Those of us who are from new york know about noble organizations, the president is here as well. But also the impact of a country of devoted of a cadre of dedicated officers. Providing real service and real protection. Through this task for