‘Policing’ is today’s civil rights struggle, Lynch says
Attorney general notes that today’s troubles echo those of the past
BIRMINGHAM, ALA. The explosions of violence that have marked a broken trust between U.S. law enforcement and communities of color across the country echo the painful clashes that marked the early struggles of the American civil rights movement, Attorney General Loretta Lynch said in an interview Sunday with USA TODAY.
“I really think the world is watching how we deal with these issues,” Lynch said in the wide-ranging interview here, where she had traveled to commemorate Martin Luther King weekend events.
Lynch is preparing to leave office after a tumultuous 20month tenure, also punctuated by a string of deadly mass shootings, a disputed investigation of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and ongoing concerns about the extent of Russia’s interference in the U.S. elections. But the legacy will likely be defined by the Justice Department’s aggressive oversight of more than two dozen police agencies across the country.
Lynch said technology, specifically the speed of digital media and video-enabled smartphones, accelerated the scrutiny of police operations in way that many had not anticipated. “Policing became front and center, be-
cause technology put it front and center,” Lynch said.
In much of the country where encounters between police and the public have not been in the forefront, “it’s been a real eye-opener.”
The “incredibly violent and fatal (past) year for law enforcement,” Lynch said, referring to the ambush killings of five Dallas officers and three others in Baton Rouge, also highlighted today’s threat to law enforcement. “Everyone just wants to get home safe,” she said.
Of this weekend’s feud between President-elect Donald Trump and Rep. John Lewis, the civil rights icon who said he would not attend the inauguration and questioned the legitimacy of the election, Lynch chose her words carefully. Describing Lewis as “a piece of living history,” Lynch said the Georgia congressman is “entitled to his views.”
“He has earned the right to speak for himself,” she said.
Later, she spoke from the sanctuary of the 16th Street Baptist Church, a monument to the early civil rights movement where four black girls were killed in a bombing carried by white supremacists in 1963. Lynch offered a counterpoint to the divisive rhetoric of the recently ended political campaigns she said threaten the very gains made by King and the movements of other foot soldiers.
“I know we are in difficult days now,” Lynch told a packed congregation. “Many worry that Dr. King ’s dream — and all that has flowed from it — is at risk like never before. I have seen the disconnect between the forces of our government and the communities we serve; I have seen the concerns that the voting booth will be moved out of reach, that our hearts will close along with our borders, that a prayer in a different tongue or posture will place one at risk.
“I have seen the fear that once again we will let a distinction without a difference govern our view of our fellow Americans, rather than what is in their hearts,” said the attorney general, the first African-American woman to hold the office. “And I have seen the fear that, with the turn of the electoral wheel, so many of us will be seen as children of a lesser God. I have seen all that.”
Despite such fears, Lynch said, she was boosted by the resolve of “the men and women of goodwill who love this country, who believe in its promise.”
“And if it comes to pass that we do enter a period of darkness, let us remember — that is when dreams are best made. So let us see — what shall become of Dr. King ’s dream? The Lord has already wrought a miracle by bringing us this far.”