Attorney General William Barr weighed in on the current Black Lives Matter debate raging across the nation by agreeing that Black Americans have been policed differently than White Americans while rejecting the idea of systemic racism in law enforcement.
Speaking with ABC News, Barr said this unjust policing was a “widespread phenomenon” that deserves further examination.
“I do think that it is a widespread phenomenon that African American males, particularly, are treated with extra suspicion and maybe not given the benefit of the doubt,” Barr said. “I think it is wrong if people are not respected appropriately and given their due, and I think it’s something that we have to address.”
On George Floyd, a black man killed after a white Minneapolis police officer used his knee to pin Floyd’s neck to the ground for more than eight minutes, Barr said he hoped that Floyd will be “a catalyst for the kinds of changes that are needed.”
“I think before the George Floyd incident, I thought we were in a good place,” he said, later adding, “I think that this episode in Minneapolis showed that we still have some work to do in addressing the distrust that exists in the African American community toward law enforcement.”
“I make a distinction. I’d make a distinction between the organization, which I don’t agree with. They have a broader agenda,” Barr said. “But in terms of the proposition that black lives matter, obviously black lives matter. I think all lives, all human life, is sacred and entitled to respect. And obviously, black lives matter.”
“I also think that it’s being used now … sort of distorting the debate to some extent, because it’s used really to refer exclusively to black lives that are lost to police misconduct, which … have been going down statistically. Five years ago, there were 40 such incidents. This last year it was ten. So at least it’s a positive trajectory there. But then you compare it to 8,000 homicides in the African American community. Those are black lives that matter, too. And those are lives that are protected by the police,” he added.