NJ Senator On Black Parents, Kids And Police: 'The Conversation'

It’s known as “The Conversation.” And it’s something that more and more black parents find themselves having with their children, U.S. Senator Cory Booker from New Jersey says.

During a recent Senate Judiciary Committee meeting, Booker, the former mayor of Newark and an outspoken advocate for criminal justice reform, spoke about the “talk” that some black families feel they must have with their kids about interactions with the police. (Watch the video below)

“The Conversation is what so many black parents feel they need to have with their children, especially black boys, about what to do when you encounter police,” Booker explained to his peers. “They’re urgent conversations because there is a fear in this country about the consequences that happen disproportionately to African-American youngsters and not white youngsters.”

• Read the ACLU’s suggestions for young people about “what to do when encountering the police” here

Booker said that he’s “proud of his country,” including its law enforcement officials, prosecutors and judges. But he also charged that the U.S. has a criminal justice system in which African-Americans and Latinos are “empirically treated different” than whites.

“We know factually that African-Americans are much more likely to be stopped by police,” the senator charged. “We know factually that African-Americans will get longer sentences for the same crimes… The powerful impact our judicial system is having right now by not addressing implicit racial bias is having a toxic impact on the faith we have in a justice system that proclaims to be equal under the law.”

• See related article: New Jersey Marijuana Arrests Are Criminalizing Black Residents, Study Says

The mother of a 12-year-old boy recently offered a poignant, real-world metaphor that illustrates the difference to CNN.

When her son told her about a game he’d heard about – a game called “Ding Dong Ditch” where kids run up to a home and ring the doorbell then run away – she immediately told him that the game was forbidden.

“He said why? Because when your friend plays the game and he's running away from a neighbor's house ... he's going to go home. There's a probability he will go home to his mom. When you play it, you may not come home to me, because you will be seen as a black male running from a stranger's home.”

• See related article: US Senate Committee Had 1 Black Member In 200 Years (Until Now)

Are you a local parent who had “The Conversation” with your child? Tell us how it turned out! (Send letters and op-eds to eric.kiefer@patch.com)

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