Marcia Fudge, Congressional Black Caucus chair, on Ferguson: ‘Another slap in our face’

Several members of the Congressional Black Caucus took to the House floor to give impassioned speeches about Ferguson, the common theme being the grand jury was wrong, former Officer Darren Wilson should have been charged, and white police officers unfairly target blacks.

“The Ferguson grand jury’s decision not to indict [former] Officer Wilson was another slap in our face,” CBC chairwoman Rep. Marcia Fudge said, The Hill reported. “If we are to learn anything from the tragic death of Michael Brown, we must first acknowledge that we have a race issue we are not addressing.”

Last week, in the hours that immediately followed the release of the grand jury’s decision, Ms. Fudge said the ruling suggested that “black lives hold no value,” The Hill said.

The CBC’s Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, on Monday, spoke similarly of the need for reform of the U.S. justice system.

“People are fed up all across America because of the injustice involved in continuing to see young, unarmed African American men killed as the result of a gun shot fired by a law enforcement officer,” Mr. Jeffries said, The Hill reported. “People in America are fed up with a broken criminal justice system that continues to fail to deliver accountability when law enforcement officers engage in the excessive use of police force.”

And Rep. Gregory Meeks said Ferguson only shows that race relations still spark fury in America, despite the 2008 election of a black president.

“Although we’ve elected President Barack Obama here in the United States, I’ve heard some say we were in a post-racial America,” Mr. Meeks said, The Hill reported. “No, we are not. For racism is still alive and well in the United States of America. We’ve got work to do.”