Rangel: 'Can't Find A Bright Spot To Eric Garner Killing'

Rep. Charles Rangel

America is such a great country and I love it so much.

I was raised in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty and when I graduated from law school, having been the only one in my family having gone to college, I think my mother said, thank you Jesus, and I said something like thanks for the Constitution and thanks for being born in America.

But there's an illness here. And it's not a Black problem. This is a problem we have in our great country.

Eric Garner's death and the lack of accountability is horrible. A human being was killed. He was surrounded by policemen. No one else touched him.

I cannot find a bright side to this terrible situation. But I do know one thing: until we face up to what it is, until we recognize that the color of one's skin can do so much to determine how their future lives are going to be or whether or not they're going to live at all, we won't be able to do anything about that cancer of injustice in the fabric of America.

The historical election of President Obama doesn't mean the end of racism and injustice in America. It didn't suddenly heal the wounds that have been left through the centuries of racial hatred and prejudice. Whether it's Eric Garner or Mike Brown, these unjustifiable deaths remind us that we've come a long, long way from how we got here, but we have a long way to go.

Don't be a bystander of injustice. In New York City and across the country, there are peaceful protests, poignant gatherings and vigils to demand justice and demonstrate that black lives matter. In New York, the NAACP and other groups will be meeting at 5:30 PM at Foley Square (Worth and Centre Streets downtown). Join together to say: this stops today.

We've come a long, long way from how we got here, but we have a long way to go.

Charles B. Rangel (D-NY) is a U.S. Member of Congress