Barr: ‘I don’t think there are 2 justice systems’ for Black and white Americans

Attorney General William Barr on Wednesday rejected the notion that systemic racism exists in the criminal justice system, but acknowledged that “there are some situations where statistics would suggest” people of color are treated differently than white people.

“I think there are stereotypes. I think people operate very frequently according to stereotypes and I think it takes extra precaution on the part of law enforcement to make sure we don't reduce people to stereotypes, we treat them as individuals,” Barr told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.

In the at-times contentious interview, the attorney general defended law enforcement officers against accusations of excessive force, arguing that rather than being motivated by race, an officer may be “scared for his life and is in a situation where a half a second can mean the difference between his life and his death, and he's wrestling with somebody.”

“They sometimes may do things that appear in hindsight to be excessive,” Barr asserted, but he cautioned that “it doesn't necessarily mean that it's racism.”

The attorney general’s comments come amid a spate of high-profile killings by police and shootings of unarmed Black Americans this year that have sparked mass unrest around the country. Fury over the May death of George Floyd at the knee of a Minneapolis police officer and the March killing of Breonna Taylor by Louisville, Ky., officers drove protests around the world, and fueled bipartisan calls for police reform within Congress, though those efforts ultimately fell apart.

A new wave of demonstrations was triggered last week when Kenosha, Wis., police shot Jacob Blake, a Black man, in the back seven times as he leaned into his car with three young children inside.

But as some protests for police reform at times turned violent or destructive, the Trump administration has largely stood behind law enforcement, with President Donald Trump conflating violent demonstrators with peaceful ones, derisively referring to them broadly as “domestic terrorists,” “anarchists” and “thugs” while pledging to take a harder line on such activism to restore “law and order.”

Trump has been considerably more restrained when describing unofficial militias showing up in some cities to face off with protesters. After a violent night of protests in Wisconsin last week saw a 17-year-old police admirer and Trump supporter Kyle Rittenhouse shoot three protesters, killing two, Trump declined to condemn the shootings, which Rittenhouse's attorney has said were in self-defense.

Trump has also not denounced a pro-Trump caravan that clashed with protesters in Portland over the weekend, though he has said: "I’d like to see law enforcement take care of everything."

Trump, too, has rejected the idea that systemic racism exists within law enforcement.

On Wednesday, Barr decried “the demonization of the police and the idea that this is so widespread, an epidemic.”

He contrasted the number of unarmed African Americans shot by a white police officer with the number of Black men killed by other means each year, an argument often advanced by conservatives that has been dismissed by advocates as a red herring that ignores the disproportionate number of Black Americans versus white ones killed by police.

But though Barr asserted that “I don't think there are two justice systems,” for Black and white Americans — an accusation made by Blake's father when pointing to the treatment of his son versus that of Rittenhouse — he acknowledged what he said “appears to be a phenomenon in the country where African-Americans feel that they're treated when they're stopped by police frequently as suspects before they are treated as citizens.”

“I don't think that that necessarily reflects some deep-seated racism in police departments or in most police officers,” he added, wrongly implying that Black police officers are somehow incapable of racially profiling other African Americans.

“I think it takes extra precaution on the part of law enforcement to make sure we don't reduce people to stereotypes, we treat them as individuals,” he said.

Barr cautioned against “throwing the idea of racism around,” contending that while it certainly exists in the United States, it is not “as common as people suggest,” and insisted that there were sufficient safeguards to ensure than racial bias “doesn't really have an effect [on] someone's future.”

As far as police reform goes, while Barr explained that “there's more progress being made and more reform,” he appeared satisfied with where the institution is now, praising reforms made over the past six decades.

“To listen to the American left nowadays, you'd think we've gotten nowhere,” he said.

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U.S. stands with European Union to push for new election in Belarus

The United States will work closely with the EU to raise pressure on embattled Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko and bring about new elections in the country gripped by protests since a disputed vote last month, Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun said Wednesday.

"We are coordinating closely with our transatlantic partners, including reviewing significant new targeted sanctions to hold accountable anybody who is involved in human rights abuses and repression in Belarus," Biegun told reporters in a conference call.

Biegun, who visited Lithuania, Russia, Ukraine and Austria last week to discuss the upheaval in Belarus, noted that the U.S. already had sanctions in place against Lukashenko, the country's long-time strongman ruler, and other top officials. The EU lifted most sanctions against Lukashenko and his close allies in 2016, but is now working to reimpose punitive measures.

"We are working closely with the Europeans as they reimpose their sanctions so that we are marching in lockstep with our European and Canadian partners," Biegun said.

The EU sanctions were lifted in 2016 partly in response to Lukashenko's release of political prisoners including Nikolai Statkevich, a rival who ran against him for president in 2010.

But ahead of this year's election, Lukashenko resorted to the same tactics, suppressing the opposition and arresting several rival candidates including Sergei Tikhanovsky, who is still jailed and whose wife Svetlana Tikhanovskaya ultimately appeared on the ballot in his place.

Lukashenko's claim that he won 80 percent of the vote set off a wave of large protests, which his security forces have tried to squash with mass arrests and at times brutal violence.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights issued a statement this week citing at least 450 documented cases of torture and calling on the Lukashenko government to end "forced disappearances" of demonstrators. At least six detained protesters remain unaccounted for, the U.N. said, although Tikhanovskaya and some other members of the opposition say the number is far higher.

In the conference call Wednesday, Biegun said the U.S. viewed the situation in Belarus as an internal conflict, not a confrontation between the West and Russia. He also demanded that Belarus release Vitaly Shklyarov, a U.S. citizen and political strategist, who had been working in the country.

"I want to emphatically state the Belarusian government needs to release Vitaly Shklyarov now and drop the charges," Biegun said. "He has been falsely accused, falsely charged and he is unjustly detained."

Biegun said it was clear Russia was seeking to exert influence in Belarus in support of Lukashenko but that after visiting Moscow, he believed the Kremlin too was tiring of the erratic Belarusian leader, who has appeared in public carrying a machine gun.

But Biegun said the U.S. would not seek to compete with Moscow for influence in Minsk, where Russian officials have reportedly been in talks about renegotiating huge amounts of debt owed by Belarus to prop up the regime.

"This is not a contest between the United States and Russia for the loyalties of Belarus," he said, adding: "Belarus, in fact, and the Belarusian people, have a long history and a deep inclination toward cooperative relations with the Russian Federation.

"The Russian government may or may not decide to renegotiate or forgive the substantial debt that has been accumulated by the mismanagement of Belarus under the current regime and that's their choice — that's their money and it's their money to give away and it's their money to waste," he said. "But I think in their heart of hearts, the Russian government knows exactly what we do: that this is not going to go one forever — that after 26 years the Belarusian people are clearly across the entire society, from labor unions to factory workers to students to intellectuals to medical workers to average citizens, parents and mothers, fathers, that they are demanding their rights in Belarus under their own constitution as well as under international charters.

"And no amount of debt relief, no amount of policing can overcome the cumulative courage of a population that's had enough," Biegun said. "The ruler of Belarus clearly still holds power but he has lost his people."

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Pastor John Gray apologizes for alleged emotional affair

Pastor John Gray apologizes to his wife and church after new allegations of an extramarital affair.

After new allegations of an extramarital affair, Pastor John Gray has issued apologies to both his wife and his church.

Read More: Oprah Winfrey Network cancels Pastor John Gray’s TV show

According to Greenville News, the faith-based author confronted rumors of an affair after a woman claimed she had been communicating with the pastor. During an almost hour-long virtual sermon, he shares plans for therapy. While he never explicitly confirms or denies the existence of an affair, Pastor Gray acknowledges the damage caused.

“Aventer, I am sorry for the pain I have caused you, and my prayer is that the life I live from this moment will be one worthy of the love that you extended that our family receives from. I am grateful for you and our children,” he said.

Read More: Woman at center of Pastor John Gray’s so-called ’emotional affair’ is spilling the tea

“To my church, I am sorry. You’ve gone through enough. From cars to meetings with leaders that have caused great pain and deep division among political ideologies to one thing after another. I want to tell you I’m sorry.”

According to Hip Hop Wired, Pastor Gray allegedly engaged in FaceTime and iMessage conversations with a woman identified as ‘Mary’ requesting photos, meals, and sending money.

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His legal team insists that in this case, a physical affair was never alleged and Gray is the victim of extortion and blackmail. Attorneys Devon Puriefoy and Kimberly Thomason informed Greenville News the latest claims are alleged to be only phone calls.

“There are allegations that there were phone conversations between the two parties, and that’s essentially the extent of the allegations,” Puriefoy said to the news outlet. “When you take her own words, she says there was no affair, no physical contact, they never met each other, they never saw each other.”

Gray leads the Relentless Church in Greenville, South Carolina, and is an associate pastor for Joel Osteen‘s Lakewood Church in Houston. Gray says he is aware of the damage done to his reputation.

“There are people who may never listen to me preach again, and I am so very sad about that,”  he said in the video.

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