The FBI denies any epidemic of racism among American legislation enforcement, however admits to cynicism and unconscious bias by the nation’s cops.
FBI Director James Comey made the remarks Thursday at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, at a dialogue about “the relationship between law enforcement and the diverse communities we serve.”
Singling out the deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri and Eric Garner in Staten Island, New York — in addition to the December 2014 homicide of two NYPD officers amid rising anti-cop sentiment — Comey stated the rift between minority communities and officers of the legislation can’t be ignored any longer.
“We can drive around these problems,” he stated. “Or we can choose to have an open and honest discussion about what our relationship is today.”
Comey, although, additionally blamed “the widespread existence of unconscious bias. Many people in our white-majority culture have unconscious racial biases and react differently to a white face than a black face.”
He quoted “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist” from the Broadway musical “Avenue Q” quipping, “You should be grateful I did not sing that.”
Defending police, Comey denied endemic racial bias in legislation enforcement officers, insisting the corps is comprised of well-intentioned “individuals who threat their lives as a result of they need to assist different individuals.”
Cynicism within the power is actual, he admitted, manifest in “lazy mental shortcuts.”
“For example, criminal suspects routinely lie about their guilt, and the people we charge are overwhelmingly guilty. That makes it easy for folks in law enforcement to assume that everybody is lying and that no suspect, regardless of their race, could be innocent. Easy, but wrong.”
This week’s remarks by Comey — a white member of the Republican Party nominated to go the FBI by Pres. Obama — come on the heels of comparable discussions of race and policing by Obama and his legal professional common, Eric Holder, who’re each black.
A wave of protests have hit the US in current months following the deaths of Brown and Garner final July and August, respectively, and comparable incidents which have unfolded since regarding using extreme power by legislation enforcement officers on black suspects.