The reverend says those fighting against police brutality must be “just as durable, and persistent and determined as the police unions that are supporting these cops.”
Police violence will not end until they have something to lose, according to Rev. Al Sharpton.
The civil rights champion is preparing to descend on Washington on Friday with Martin Luther King III, on the anniversary of MLK’s famous march on the capitol.
Joining them will be the family of Jacob Blake, who was left paralyzed by seven police bullets on Sunday, as well as the even less fortunate families of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Eric Garner, and many more.
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“It is unbelievable, in this era of George Floyd — we’ve had people demonstrating for weeks now, we’ve had months of demonstrations — for a policeman in the middle of that to think he could shoot somebody in the back, seven times… the only answer to this is we need strict federal laws,” Sharpton said.
He said there was no question race played a role in Blake’s shooting.
“I certainly don’t think they would have been shooting like that in a white neighborhood or at a white person,” he said.
He said those fighting against police brutality must be “just as durable, and persistent and determined as the police unions that are supporting these cops.”
The only thing that can stop it is new federal law: the Justice in Policing Act of 2020, named for George Floyd, who died beneath the knee of a Minneapolis police officer in May.
“That police start seeing they will be given perp walks, that they can be sued personally, they will be felons, and not only go to jail but their families could lose their assets,” he said.
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“They have nothing on the line. Right away, the union comes in, no matter what they did, provides them with lawyers, provides them with PR people, provides them with everything and protects them. And if there’s a lawsuit, the city pays.”
“This law changes all of that,” he said. “They’ve got to have some skin in the game.”
When asked if the rioting was understandable, he replied: “I’m not going to arm Donald trump by saying I condone rioting, because I don’t.”
“But I think you must understand the anger. But the anger must be channeled to deal with what we’re angry about.”
“I understand anger — nobody’s more angry than me, I’ve been fighting this stuff for decades. But I want to fight to win, not fight to just vent my emotions.”
He added. “You never build movements on what happens if you don’t win; you fight til you win… we’re not gonna stop.”
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