Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf said there was not a “systemic racism” problem with law enforcement in America.
Guest host Martha Raddatz said, “George Floyd isn’t the only black American that was killed by police. In fact, black Americans are killed by police at more than twice the rate of white Americans. An Axios/Ipsos poll found 70% of whites trust police compared to 30% of African-Americans. Do you think there is a problem with systemic racism in policing in the United States?”
Wolf said, “I do not think that we have a systemic racism problem with law enforcement officers across this country. Do I acknowledge that there are some law enforcement officers that abuse their job? Yes. We need to hold those accountable.”
He added, “I would say there are individuals in every profession across this country that probably abuse their authority and their power. We need to hold them accountable. Can we do better? Can we do more? Can we continue to do more in the law enforcement arena outreach to our community, particularly those that those that feel slighted? Absolutely. I think there’s always things we can do more. But again, painting law enforcement with a broad brush of systemic racism is really a disservice to the men and women who put on the badge, the uniform every day, risk their lives every day to protect the American people. That protects them so that they can go to school. They can have a business and come home safe to their families. So I think we need to keep that in mind as well.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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