PRESS STATEMENT - THE DEATH OF PORTER BURKS COMPELS US ALL TO FIND A BETTER WAY

“Police officers encounter folks with guns and knives all the time. In most cases, death does not occur. However, it appears to occur too often when it involves Black men…This is not an attack upon the Detroit Police Department. However, it is a call for all of us to understand the issues concerning mental health, the racial disparity, as we find more Black people killed and arrested, disproportionate to our population. We must acknowledge for some, even in our own community, Blacks are perceived differently, not understood as clearly, and are very rarely given the benefit of the doubt when it comes to situations like this.”