In Memphis, Attorney General Holder Talks About Building Trust Between Communities and Law Enforcement

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Last week, Attorney General Eric Holder traveled to Memphis and held a roundtable discussion on improving the relationship between the city's people of color and local law enforcement.

In the wake of the recent police-involved deaths of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, and others, the President has called for an increased effort to help rebuild communities' trust in local law enforcement and the justice system. In that vein, the Attorney General will be holding similar discussions in a number of other cities across the country.

"We want to make sure that law enforcement acts in a way that people will perceive as being fair, and then, in fact, is fair."

-- Attorney General Eric Holder

Attorney General Holder also noted the inefficiency of policing on the basis of stereotypes, saying that this kind of policing will "draw you to places where you shouldn't be, and take you away from places where you, in fact, should be."

The discussion was held at the Lorraine Motel — the site of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination in 1968, and now the home of the National Civil Rights Museum. Attorney General Holder said the museum was the "perfect place" for this meeting, as "it's an indication of how far we've come, but it's also a reminder of how far we have to go." He also linked protesters across the country today to those who are memorialized in the museum — "people who made noise, who disrupted things, all with the hope, with the aim of making our great nation better," he said.

You should also see:

• Building Trust Between Communities and Local Police
• Fact Sheet: Strengthening Community Policing
• Excerpts from President Obama's BET Interview on Race Relations, and the Progress We Still Have to Make