The Justice Department's report on racism in the Ferguson, Mo. police department was "very troubling," former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Sunday, and he believes the government was correct to raise the issues about a system-wide problem in the city's police department and municipal courts.
"This is something that needs to be, that has been identified as a major problem, and now a corrective action needs to take place," Gonzales, who served as attorney general under former President George W. Bush, told CNN's
"State of the Union" program.
The numbers revealed in the report were troubling, said Gonzales. The federal report showed that 67 percent of the city of Ferguson is comprised of African-Americans, but 85 percent of the people pulled over for traffic stops and 93 percent of those arrested are black, CNN reported.
Gonzales said he would hope that similar numbers or incidents of racial profiling aren't found at other police departments across the country.
"We obviously made significant progress in race relations since Selma," he said, referring to the famous civil rights march there 50 years ago. "I don't want us to paint with such a broad brush in terms of what happened in Ferguson that we ignore the very positive work that's being done by police departments and community leaders all across the nation."
However, he acknowledged that there are still racial issues in the United States that need to be solved.
"That's why we have civil rights laws," he said. "That's why we have a civil rights department at the Department of Justice to address these kinds of issues."
But even laws can't change people's hearts or behavior, said Gonzales.
"It's going to take grace, communication and understanding before we change people's hearts," he commented. "I'm hopeful we can do that soon, and we're making progress. I'm hopeful this country will have a leadership to take us there."
Gonzales noted that outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder received criticism over part of his handling of the Michael Brown shooting case after going to Ferguson and raising hopes about civil rights prosecution.
"General Holder's presence there sent a soothing message to all of the feelings in that community," said Gonzales. "I don't fault him for that. The only concern I might have is, again, is acknowledgment that all around the country every day police officers put their lives on the line, irrespective of the color of the victim and the committing of a crime. We need to acknowledge the fine work that is ongoing, but we need to have further work."
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