Around him who had other agendas, who were trying to draw him into gang life or violence, or possibly put him in the way of being accidentally caught in crossfire. What he told me the most painful thing was that it wasnt just the other residents frightened him, who were not on the path he was on. Was excelling in school and moving ahead with a bright future. He was also afraid to call the police. He did know if they could tell the difference between them between him and those who want to do him harm. No one should feel that way. Not in america. Not today. Not our children. Spentr those of us who careers in Law Enforcement, those in this panel and this room, who hears that should say i do not want that feeling in a child of mine. They are all our children, they have to be. This is 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 . Not only does the doj recognize this issue, we are determined to do our part to prevent the unequal application of the law and to end violence and 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 force, we are seeking to extend these principles across the country. We have been hearing from extraordinary individuals and exceptional organizations like the ones presented on this panel. Leeson ithe biggest have seen in my impunity in my own Community Policing tour, is that the Real Solutions come from the places that are seeing the problem. Its not a problem that will be solved by washington imposing some policy from on high. It will be solved by us empowering People Living in these areas to work through these issues. By us providing resources and assistance for people to come to the solution that leads to better days. I was talking with my father this morning, i was us again how the conference was going, how the panels were going. And what was the best part. And what he said to me did not surprise me. He said, the best part is that on every panel he had seen and im sure it was true of eople are talking about their real lives and the real issues. Not just a study being brought to bear. The real problems and finding Real Solutions for them. Thats why our Community Policing roundtables are so important. Ive been to a number of cities already. Im looking forward to going out to the west coast next week, and also extending this tour to look wayse best practices, the people have found a way out of these challenging situations. Not to a perfect solution, but to a working solution. We look forward to being able to share with all communities. We do more than that the Justice Department. We also have to bolster trust in the institutions that make up our criminal Justice System. We are doing that in part under the smart on crime initiative. It was launched to a years ago two years ago by attorney general eric holder. [applause] he took a visionary approach across the kernel Justice System and looked at ways the criminal Justice System and look at ways in which we had a wellmeaning program 20 years ago, but looked at the consequences on our communities then and now. I talk about over incarceration of mostly minority young men of color for nonviolent drug offenses. That has so decimated our communities. Not just the problems of the drugs themselves, but the removal of these young men communities and from families. Iss has been a hole that created. The issue for the the departed of justice under eric holder, under myself, how can we go about feeling that hole . Frankly, we feel that we do that in a way that protects public safety, but also takes into account these important issues. Initiativeon crime has been one of those rare points of bipartisan accord. As you talk about over incarceration rates, whether from my financial perspective or a Human Capital and cost perspective. Federal prosecutors are using resources to bring the most serious wrongdoers to justice, but using their discretion to find more effective ways drug courts, focusing on incarceration. For those for whom other methods will provide personal accountability without the devastating consequences we have seen in the past. Been,rse the benefit has as the overall crime rate has declined for the first time in four decades, this policy continues forward and will continue. We are focusing on reentry. As we work out ways [applause] out waysh as we work for the zone people to return home for these young people to return home, and some may not be so young when they get out we also have to work out ways for them to rebuild a home. We have to work out ways for them to return to not just their families and communities, but to society. Whether that is to Education Programs in prison. Just a month ago i stood with secretary of ecation arne duncan as he announced the Pilot Program to allow colleges to use programs for those currently incarcerated. To use pell grants for those currently incarcerated. A have to provide them with education while incarcerated and opportunities once they are released. [applause] course, its not just purchase a beating in your family not just participating in your family, community, or society, the ultimate participation in the american spirit called democracy is the right to vote. That is why the department of justice continues [applause] continues to call for all states to revisit the issue of felon disenfranchisement. Let them vote. Let them vote. [applause] we are talking about our countrys most sacred right. The protection of the Voting Rights calls for most sacred engagement. In voting cases in particular, the Justice Department has participated in more than 100 voting cases over the course of the obama administration. We are all aware of the Supreme Courts 20 cute teen decision in Shelby County that took away key decision in Shelby County away a key part that organizations to determine their impact on minoritys Voting Rights, whether it is a dilution or demolition therof. We were able to vent of the rollback of this important right. This court has spoken. Oflost part, but only part, the Voting Rights act. We have kept up the charge. And we have not been idle. Just recently, we successfully challenged texasstrict voter id law. [applause] in a separate action, we sued to block two of texas redistricting plans. And in my home state of north carolina, we are challenging several provisions of a state law that curves early voting and restricts sameday registration. As the president has said, why do we want to restrict the right to vote . The right that makes us free and independent . It gives us the envy of other countries. When they talk about the benefits and the values of a merica, one of the things you will hear it when you travel outside this country, is franky their awe at the fact that we can have a peaceful transition of power that we have every 48 years. That is because we invest in this democracy. Why do we want to do anything to curtail anyones participation in what has been an example to the world, and has to be the beacon that we use to ensure freedom in this country . The message from the department of justice is clear. We will not stop in these efforts. We will not be deterred. We will not rest until we have secured the right to vote for every eligible american. [applause] and of course, that extends beyond the courtroom and the actions that we bring. Working with many of the members who are sponsoring this wonderful weekend, and other members of congress as well. We have promoted legislative proposals to restore the Voting Rights act to its full and proper and intended purpose. [applause] we have also proposed legislation that would expand access to polling places for those living on indian reservations. And alaska native villages and other tribal lands. We cannot have a situation in this country where the original americans are kept out of the participation in the bounty of this land. [applause] we cannot have that. We do this also through our monitoring program, monitoring federal elections, and have actively enforced the National Voter registration act to protect those registering to vote. As well as the rights of our uniformed members of the military and overseas citizens who seek to vote as well. Keeping on to what makes them essentially american. We will always protect their rights as well. Of course, the right to vote follows from one of our nations most fundamental promises, that no one should have to endure this creation or unfair treatment injure discrimination based on unfair treatment on what they look like. Is Justice Department practicing on the frontlines against hatred and intolerance and are fighting back by his motivated violence. Bias motivated violence. Signed into law by president obama in 2009. [applause] this law will enhance our ability to hold accountable those who victimized their fellow americans because of who they are. We have worked with our state and local partners to make sure that hate crimes are identified and investigated. And we have continued to bring, and will continue to bring, federal hate crime charges. Including our current prosecution of dylann roof for the murders of 9 people of fa ith. 9 people who died at Mother Emanuel Church in South Carolina just a few months ago. For many of us, as we sat and watched that event, that took us back to a time that we thought was over. This is a new day. Look who is in the white house. Look who is in the to permit of justice. Indie department in the department of justice. We thought we passed those stark reminders that we live in a world of hate. We thought we moved past this history of bigotry and brutality. We thought we had left behind the pure intimidation and cruelty of the night writers. Those who come in the night and try and keep you. We thought we had moved away from that. For many of us, it took us back to another time when we thought we had erased it away forever. A time, when just 52 years ago this week, four little girls went to church one morning. They went to sunday school one weekend. And they were there attending a sermon called the love that forgives. They didnt come home that day. Four families live on with the loss of their children who suffered the bomb in the Baptist Church in birmingham. In the days after the bombing, 52 years ago i was four years old and my father, michael parents, looked at me and my two my father looked at me and my two brothers, how can i keep my children safe from the world that wants to tell them that they are different and less than, that they dont matter . And that they are simply canada fodder . Fodder . On he decided he had to keep working, keep marching, keep pushing, keep advancing. There are no guarantees, 52 years ago, when four little bodies do not come home. We did not know that we would get a Voting Rights act. Did not know we would get the civil rights act. Nothing was guaranteed. But with a deep faith and commitment, people pushed forward. We are at that same again. In the days just after that bombing, more than 8000 people, people of all colors and creeds and backgrounds, races and religions, attended a Memorial Service for those young victims. One of those individuals who gave many stirring eulogies was the reverend dr. Martin luther king jr. Of course, he was familiar not just with the town, but with the church, not just with the church, but with the families, not just the families, but the four little girls themselves. In his address, at a time of great tragedy and great challenge, he urged his fellow citizens to channel their grief, to harness their energy. He said we have to work passionately and on relentlessly for the realization of the American Dream. The people sitting in the pews of that dark day 52 years ago, as my father looked at his children and wondered how he would keep us safe, could hardly have imagined the progress we have made thanks to their efforts. They could hardly have imagined this group, the congressional like caucus it self black causucus itself gaining strengt. They could not have imagined the philosophy and teaching. They could not have seen who would be sitting in the white house today, sitting in a meeting with then attorney general, who was that little girl whose father said i have to protect. They knew there were better days coming. They knew that if they pushed forward, they could move past the pain of a bomb that were a part of church. They knew that their work was over, just as ours is not also. We have more work to do. We are here today to get started. Many people here working or going to continue. Those people who are younger, new to the cause, will join in. We will keep pushing ahead. Every american has the right to grow up in a community and world that offers not just responsibility to uphold, but also opportunities to succeed. Because every american has the right to live in a country that will support them and that will protect them, no matter where they live, what they look like, or who they are. Every american, every american has the right to a Justice System that gives them a fair opportunity to grow, to learn, to improve. [applause] and to contribute. And every american has the right to make his or her voice heard. This is just what i believe, or what you believe, it is what this coury believes. It is what this country needs. It is what this society believes. It is what america has always promised to every man, woman, and child in every Community Across this nation. Im here to pledge to you today that neither i nor the department that i am so proud to lead will ever abandon our work to make that promise real. But we need your help and your partnership. Just as we have in decades past to bring our country closer to its highest ideals. And we do look out and we see dark days of the times. As people did 52 years ago. But just as they did then, they looked around and saw strength. Basal support, they saw fellowship, commitment. They saw what i see when i look out over this extraordinary gathering today. And they saw what i see, which is a people that will not be stopped. A people that will not be silenced. [applaus