Bonnie Watson Coleman: “Thank you very much to my esteemed colleague from New York. I am new to Congress, and I have had quite a few occasions…”

“Thank you very much to my esteemed colleague from New York. I am new to Congress, and I have had quite a few occasions to come to the floor and talk about issues that are very pressing to my community and to me. I stand here as an African American woman who represents the State of New Jersey, but I stand here as a wife, a mother, a sister, an aunt, and a cousin to African American men. In that capacity, each and every day that one of them leaves our presence and leaves their home, I wonder if they will come back safely. I know they mean no one any harm, but I don't know that the police that they might encounter would see that in them as I do. My community has cried out for a long period of time that there has been injustice and there has been harm and danger and needless deaths facing our young men and even some of our young women. As a matter of fact, Mr. Clyburn mentioned the issue of data collection as being such an important element here in helping us to find our way. I noted that The Washington Post said that, out of thousands of fatal interactions between the police and citizens, only 54 officers have been charged, and of those, most were cleared and acquitted.…”