Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Rep. Val Demings (D-FL) said President Donald Trump should “begin” to show compassion for families who have lost love ones to police abusing their power.
Deming said, “President Johnson looked at policing, for example, in America, over 50 years ago, and what he said, basically, is what I just said, hire the brightest and the best and make sure they are well-trained and they have the tools to do an effective job and work closely with the citizens. But he also said we have to address those social ills that cause decay in African-American communities in the first place. We have to look at economic development. We have to look at jobs. We have to look at wages. We have to look at education. And, you know, some believe that, you know, in order to be fair, if you will, that you treat communities the same, well, it’s not that simple. Unless communities all start in the same place and we know that’s not true. Look at the coronavirus. It’s something that we have never seen before that requires us to do some things we have never done before. But racism in America and the injustices that come with it is nothing new. And so we have to get serious about, number one, admitting there is an issue and, number two, working together. Chuck, it certainly would help if we had leadership at the top. If there was ever a time we need leadership in the White House, it is now, to help heal our nation, But I don’t know why I would expect this president to do something that he has never done before, and we have never seen before.”
Host Chuck Todd said, “All right, let me ask the question this way about president trump. if he called you up tonight after watching you here and said, look, help me say something to fix this, what would you tell him to say?”
Deming said, “I would tell him to begin with showing some compassion for the persons who the families that have lost their loved ones. Let’s start there. And then continue to talk about America is great and wonderful because of the beautiful diversity that we have in this country, that we are a nation of immigrants, we are a nation of laws, we are a nation of immigrants, and we have to work together. Let’s look at our history. This country is already solved some of the toughest issues because we have been able to come together and work together. We can do that now and maybe —look, Chuck, if he called me today, I would welcome the opportunity to help this president get it right and maybe we begin today by acknowledging the sins of the past and even said things that he has said and done that caused harm and brought pain to the American people.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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