WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke released the following statement after she and her colleagues in the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) went to the Department of Justice to demand an investigation into the killing of Black men, women, and children by law enforcement. Members of the CBC delivered a letter to Attorney General Loretta Lynch asking her to investigate the recent killings of Keith Lamont Scott in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Terence Crutcher in Tulsa, Oklahoma, as well as other similar incidents.

“We have come to the Department of Justice today to demand an end to this crisis, when Black men, women, and children are regularly threatened with violence from the very individuals who are sworn to protect them,” said Congresswoman Clarke. “Their stories appear on television and in the newspaper, terrifying concerned parents who know that any activity – playing outside, driving a car, walking down a stairway – presents a risk of death. Sadly, we now add Keith Lamont Scott and Terence Crutcher to the familiar and lengthy list of unarmed Black men killed by police officers. We cannot stand by and wait as more Black men are rallied into graves and their lives are told through hashtags on Twitter. In 2015, police officers killed at least 102 unarmed Black people, averaging nearly two deaths each week. This is unacceptable. To the friends who knew them and the families who loved them, know this: we will pursue this matter relentlessly. We will not forget. And you will know justice.”

Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke, a member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, the Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade, the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, and the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, the Committee on Ethics and the Committee on Small Business in the House of Representatives, proudly represents Brownsville, Crown Heights, East Flatbush, Flatbush, Gerritsen Beach, Madison, Midwood, Park Slope, Flatlands, Prospect Heights, Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, Sheepshead Bay, and Windsor Terrace.