Washington, DC — In advance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day and the State of the Union, ColorOfChange, the nation’s largest online civil rights organization is calling on President Obama to use his executive powers to restore integrity to the federal government’s investigation and prosecution of discriminatory police violence and it’s unjust consequences, including employment discrimination against formerly incarcerated people.

For more information see:www.EndPoliceAbuse.org

Rashad Robinson, Executive Director of ColorOfChange.org said, issued the following statement:

“The country cannot afford to wait any longer for tangible police accountability and long term structural change to keep our communities safe. President Obama and Attorney General Holder have already taken a number of important steps, including today’s critical decision to put an end to asset seizures without due process. More than 200,000 ColorOfChange members and their allies raised their voices demanding this systemic reform and we applaud the administration definitive action, which undoubtedly improves the lives of thousands of Black and brown people in America and brings us a huge step closer to ending the failed, discriminatory War on Drugs.”

“But there’s much more President Obama can, and must do. With only 2 years left in his presidency, this is President Obama’s opportunity to define his legacy. The American people need to know that President Obama is doing everything in his power to uphold the law and stop these unconscionable police killings. Amidst one of the nation’s greatest civil and human rights crises, which side does President Obama stand?”

“There exists an epidemic of racial bias, police violence and a lack of accountability in police forces across the country. And local police departments rarely hold their own officers accountable. But the federal civil rights laws that Dr. Martin Luther King and others gave their lives to achieve, if enforced, could hold officers and police departments accountable for discrimination, and unjust violence.”

“An Executive Order from President Obama would go a long way in moving the Department of Justice into action and ensuring the prosecution of abusive police officers and systemic changes to problematic police departments. Without the President’s leadership, the federal government will continue with business as usual: more lives tragically lost, the occasional investigation, and no justice.”

“And these same racially biased policing practices trap millions of people–disproportionately Black people and other people of color–into the criminal justice system each year, many of them for minor offenses. When formerly incarcerated people try to re-enter society, they face systemic employment discrimination. We urge President Obama to do more than make speeches this Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, but to crack down on violent and discriminatory policing by issuing an executive order directing the DOJ to enforce our civil rights laws more aggressively, and to remove unjust barriers to employment targeting the formerly incarcerated.”

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With more than 1 million members, ColorOfChange.org is the nation’s largest online civil rights organization.