Black Pa. Lawmakers Promise Response to Wave of Protests Over Deaths at Hands of Police
By Cherri Gregg
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Black legislators from Pennsylvania's state Senate and House today joined local civil rights leader and clergy in a pledge to push for police policy changes following the recent deaths of two black men in confrontations with white police officers.
"People were calling and saying, 'What are we going to do?' " noted state representative Vanessa Brown (D-Phila., at lectern in photo), chair of the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus.
Today, she stood beside clergy, labor leaders, and others to condemn the perceived injustice in Ferguson, Mo., and in other cities, saying that while young people protest the lawmakers will work to change the system.
"We will be holding policy hearings, to talk about the legislative policies that are stuck," Brown said.
State representative Curtis Thomas says that to help ease tensions, lawmakers will evaluate whether special prosecutors should be appointed in police shooting cases, how to make the grand jury process more transparent, and how and when to hold police to the same standard as the general public in cases of misconduct, "reassuring the public that there is some confidence in the people that are protecting us."
Lawmakers say they are organizing and plan to propose new bills in the next legislative session.
Michael Brown was shot and killed by a white officer in Ferguson, Mo., and Eric Garner died after being brought down with a choke hold by a New York City police officer in Staten Island.
