Political Quotes

“Representative Lee, I like your analogy about ``if you are not at the table, bring your folding chair.'' I would like to say: ``If you are not at the table, your issues would be on the menu.'' But I like the folding chair analogy also. I think a good point that you bring up that people don't realize, when we talk about African American men in jail, incarcerated, people might think, well, if they are doing something wrong, they should be in jail. To use Ferguson as an example, while comprising two-thirds of Ferguson's population, African Americans represent 85 percent of vehicles stopped, 90 percent of citations, and 93 percent of arrests made by the Ferguson Police Department. But while African American drivers are twice as likely as White drivers to be searched on a vehicle stop, contraband was found on Black drivers 26 percent less frequently than White drivers. So these discrepancies, coupled with incidents of overly aggressive police tactics and a police force that is racially and ethnically underrepresented of the large Ferguson community, instill the culture of distrust and anonymity. So you can see why these things happen. I yield to the gentlewoman from California.”