so joining me now is congressman Danny
hack from the state of Washington
Seattle is not in his district but he is
obviously loves his state and is here to
talk about what's going on Danny when
you listen to that man talking about how
you know he he can't sleep at night
people are banging on his door what what
is going on here well Martha first of
all thanks for having me on it's been a
while and it's nice to be back thank you
secondly it turns out my god thank you
very much my goddaughter Michaela lives
in the neighborhood and we talk almost
every day I want to check in on her and
just this morning we talked about it
again and I said what's it like and she
said you know it's amazingly peaceful
but Martha this is Seattle and the
activity runs the gamut from the WTO
riots of a couple of decades ago where
there was a lot of rioting and looting
and this is nothing like that whatsoever
but it runs the gamut from that what we
call Seattle nice they have a problem at
four-way stops in Seattle because nobody
will go first they always want the other
person to go the truth of the matter is
that the overwhelming number of people
involved in this are peacefully
protesting something that is long
overdue to be protest okay all right
congressman though I you know it with
all due respect what there's no niceness
to any of these companies that have
these businesses in the neighborhood
that are completely boarded up no one
can go shop there they can't go buy
anything
they're completely shut down the police
officers would like to get back into the
precinct so they can do their job you
know we had Carmen bass two soundbite
from Carmen best a little late let's
actually listen to what else she says
about how difficult it is now to protect
people in that zone listen to this calls
for service have more than tripled rapes
robberies and all sorts of violent
accident
in the area they were not able to get to
so it is not right for us not to be able
to deploy our officers here
she says rapes robberies and violent
acts and we cannot get in there to help
how is that possibly it happening in the
United States of America sir
well response time has been protracted
there's no question about that but you
have different information than I do
Marth I am aware that there are actually
lots of business establishments
including restaurants that are open in
that area but look this is not pictures
congressman we're showing pictures you
can see these businesses that have
boards nailed in front of them that this
is not anything I'm saying I'm looking
at what's going on in the video here
right Marth I didn't say they were all
open I said some of them were open and
no I can't see your pictures in this
connection but I will take your word for
it look I want to reiterate that what we
see here with closed businesses and
protracted response times is not
desirable is not something we would want
but Martha here's what else we do not
want we do not want a nation in which
the culture of police enforcement is
that you can lay a black man on the
pavement face down handcuffed him put
your knee in the back of his neck and
squeeze the life out of him while he is
crying for his mama and pleading
pleading I can't breathe and that was
just one example George Floyd that is
emblematic of far too much institutional
racism in this country that's the
statement that's being made here but I
couldn't agree with you more getting
back to where those businesses can be
reopened is absolutely the goal so when
you listen to Carmen best the police
chief does she deserve to be swept with
that broad brush do all of these police
officers in Seattle fit the description
of the kind of heinous acts that you are
describing and when they wake up in the
morning and they go out and they you
know can never guarantee that they're
gonna come home at night are these the
people that you think Seattle needs to
be protected from
so the answer is of course not Martha
but remember that when the officer had
George Floyd down on the ground there
were three officers standing around him
who did not stop absolutely and that and
they're probably going to jail for the
rest of their lives
well I doubt that but the point is they
were caught on video camera I will say
and the question is how many my goodness
on video camera should I Nick should I
just list for you the names of the
number of people that have been killed
at the hands of the police that happened
to be black in the last few years that
were caught on camera let's not pretend
like this is not a systemic problem no
I'm not pretending anything you know if
you look at the data there are those who
say that that systemic is not the right
word for what's going on and I know that
people are differ on that point we have
covered all of the stories of the names
of the people that you would probably
name and I think that police departments
across this country are saying we are
willing to come to the table and we want
there to be reform and we are not
murderers we don't stick up for any of
these individuals and we know justice
must be done but but to sort of minimize
what's going on in Seattle I think is is
something that I'm not sure is is the
right thing for peace and justice either
congressman and I just give you one last
thought well I've reached out to several
law enforcement officers in the course
of the last several weeks and you're
right there is frankly a new openness
for transformational changes and the way
we approach policing and I actually
think that at the point at which we get
more officers stepping forward and being
willing to advocate for some of these
advances then we're going to be a lot
healthier of a of a country and and our
communities are going to be a lot safer
and part of what I hear from them Martha
all the time is we would like to fight
crime we feel as though we were called
we are called the answer way too many
incidences incidents that are outside
the purview of actually fighting crime
so there are voices out there that want
to join I think in the effort to advance
policing practices
congressman Danny heck thank you very
much sir good to have you with us
tonight as always